Joe B. Foster

In addition to his tenures at Newfield and Tenneco, Joe Foster's corporate directorships included Baker Hughes, Inc., McDermott International, Inc., New Jersey Resources Corporation, Valero Energy, Dual Drilling, and Targa Resources, Inc. From February through August 2000, Foster was interim chairman, president and chief executive officer of Baker Hughes Incorporated, while the company searched for a new chief executive. In 2001–2002, Foster was the independent trustee for a large portion of Texaco's refining and marketing assets which were required to be divested in the course of the Chevron–Texaco merger.

Tenneco Oil

Foster was chairman of Tenneco Oil Company and executive vice president and director of its parent, Tenneco Inc. He began with Tenneco as a junior petroleum engineer in Oklahoma City in 1957. After working in several engineering positions in Lafayette, Louisiana, while Tenneco was establishing its Gulf of Mexico operations, he became chief of planning and economic analysis for Tenneco Oil Exploration and Production in Houston in 1968. He rose through the ranks of Tenneco Oil, becoming its president in 1978. In 1981, he was named to the board of directors of Tenneco Inc. and assumed corporate-level responsibility for all of Tenneco Inc.’s upstream, downstream, and gas pipeline businesses. He left Tenneco when its board elected to divest Tenneco Oil in 1988.

Newfield Exploration

Joe B. Foster was the founder of Newfield Exploration Company, a Houston-based oil and gas exploration company. He was chief executive officer until his retirement from active management in January 2000, and remained as chairman of its board until May 2005. Foster founded Newfield in 1989 as a private start-up with $9 million of equity capital provided by himself, other employees, a group of Houston investors, and University of Texas Endowment funds. It became a public company in 1993, and its recent market value was about $5 billion.