Home | Business News | Browse by Publication | T | Texas Monthly

The man in the white hat: John Poindexter insists that he can restore 46,000 acres of Big Bend Ranch State Park to its original splendor. If only he could persuade the state to sell--and the angry conservationists to trust him.

Article Excerpt
There is simply no other place to begin. John Poindexter, Houston-born multimillionaire owner of exclusive Big Bend resort Cibolo Creek Ranch, is one stiff dude. For proof, consider his assessment of himself. After being interviewed for this story in December, Poindexter sent me a series of clarifying e-mails. The first one began as follows: "I have been giving some thought to the complexity of the task that you have set for yourself and in an attempt to be helpful I have provided some random thoughts below.... Personal outlook. I regard myself as an inwardly focused person, one who has devoted most of his personal time to writing, research and the avocation of studying the Spanish language. That, together with a monolithic dedication to my two businesses--J. B. Poindexter & Co. and Cibolo Creek Ranch--has virtually eliminated the usual social give-and-take from my existence. Consequently, I do just fine in formal situations and public presentations (like speeches to our executives) but I do not shine in day-to-day chit-chat"

Or, to put it in the context of the region he calls home when he's not working in Houston, hear Brewster County judge Val Beard: "John's manner is not that of a West Texan."

That assessment by Judge Beard, who, by the way, counts herself among Poindexter's admirers, is dead-on. Poindexter's way--the solemn, split-hair precision of his thoughts and his habit of walking the listener through each step of that thought process--is not of the desert, though it has served him beautifully in business. His company, which originally specialized in leveraged buyouts of manufacturing businesses, now counts the world's largest maker of hard-bodied delivery vans among its holdings. It saw almost $700 million in revenues last year. But as the company's sole owner, Poindexter sits alone at the top and freely admits to having a tin ear when it comes to how his statements play to others. He has historically avoided the press, claiming to have neither the capacity, desire, nor need for anything resembling publicity.

But at the end of August, Poindexter found himself in an uncomfortable place: the headlines. He'd been in quiet negotiations throughout the summer with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department to purchase 46,000 acres of Big Bend Ranch State Park for around $2 million. But the day before the TPWD commissioners were to receive their staff's recommendation for approval--in a closed executive session that would be followed the next day by the deal's only public hearing--the Austin American-Statesman announced in a front-page story that the state was considering selling off "one-sixth of its flagship park." (The figure was off, but negligibly so.) The opposition from conservationists was Bork-like...

View this article FREE - Now for a Limited Time, try Goliath Business News
Free for 3 Days!