J. Larry Nichols, 67, is a co-founder of Devon and has been a director since 1971 and has been chief executive officer since 1980.  Nichols graduated from Princeton University with a bachelor’s degree in geology and he completed his juris doctorate at the University of Michigan in 1967, where he was a member of the Order of Coif and a comment editor of Law Review. Nichols served as law clerk to Chief Justice Earl Warren and Justice Tom Clark of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1967 to 1968. He then served as special assistant to Assistant Attorney General William Rehnquist in the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. 

A leader in the industry, Nichols serves as chairman of the American Petroleum Institute and is on the executive committee of the board of directors for America’s Natural Gas Alliance.  He is on the board of the Business Industry Political Action Committee in Washington, D.C. and is the former chairman and a current director of the American Exploration & Production Council.