Draft:Paul W Hobby

Paul William Hobby (born September 10, 1960) is an American businessman and community leader. He is a founding partner of Genesis Park, a Houston-based private equity firm.

Early years
Born in Houston, Hobby is the son of former Texas Lieutenant Governor William P. Hobby Jr. and book editor of the Houston Post, Diana Hobby. He is the grandson of William P. Hobby Sr. and Oveta Culp Hobby. He attended the St. John’s School in Houston. He graduated from the University of Virginia with a BA in History in 1982 and from the University of Texas School of Law with a JD in 1985.

Professional career
Hobby started his career with Fulbright & Jaworski and in 1989 was appointed an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of Texas, where he prosecuted criminal offenses including financial fraud, public corruption, violent crime and narcotics violations. While on leave from the United States Department of Justice, he was chief of staff for Texas Lieutenant Governor Bob Bullock in 1991. He then executed a media software roll up, serving as executive chairman of the board for Columbine JDS Systems (“CJDS”) from 1993 to 1997. CJDS provides back office software for the cable and broadcast industry and was sold to Big Flower Press in 1997.

In late 1999, Hobby co-founded Genesis Park, a regional private equity firm. He served as chairman of the board of CapRock Communications, as chairman and CEO of Alpheus Communications, and as chairman and CEO of Texas Monthly.

On November 23, 2020, Genesis Park Acquisition Corp. (“GPNK”), a blank check company formed by Genesis Park, with Hobby serving as CEO and director, announced it priced its initial public offering. It was listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol GNPK.U. The offering was consummated on November 27, 2020. GNPK merged with Redwire, a leading space infrastructure company, on September 2, 2021 and currently trades as NYSE:“RDW”.

Hobby has served on a number of public company boards: specifically NRG (NYSE:NRG), a merchant energy company with retail operations, Amegy Bank of Texas until its sale to Zions Bank in 2005, Stewart Title (NYSE:STC), Aronex Pharmaceuticals until its sale to Antigenics in 2001, FloTek (NYSE:FTK) since 2019, and EGL Logistics until its sale to Apollo Management in 2007.

Public service
Hobby is former chairman of the Texas Ethics Commission, the Greater Houston Partnership, the Houston Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, the Texas General Services Commission and the Texas Business Hall of Fame. He has served on the Board of Trustees of Baylor College of Medicine since 2005.

Hobby ran for Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts in 1998. After winning the Democratic nomination, he lost the general election with 49% of the vote compared with Republican Carole Keeton Rylander’s 49.5%.

Hobby has served as a board member of Hermann Hospital, St. John’s School, Greater Houston Community Foundation, Covenant House Texas, Greater Harris County 911 Emergency Network, Texas Exes and University of Texas Law School Foundation. He was also a founding member of the University of Virginia Arts & Sciences Foundation.

Hobby published a book in 2023, “Glorious Tension – rediscovering our sacred middle ground in an age of extremism”.

Awards and recognition

 * Texas Business Hall of Fame (2021)
 * Honoree, Outstanding Young Texas Ex
 * Houston AAF Trailblazer Award
 * Onstead Award 2015 Greater Houston Partnership