Born in 1936, Donald Vaughn grew up in Australia. He attended high school at the Missouri Military Academy in Mexico, Mo. and earned his BS in civil engineering from Virginia Tech in 1958. As a member of the Corps of Cadets and R.O.T.C. program, upon graduation Mr. Vaughn was commissioned as a 1st Lt. in the U.S. Army - Corps of Engineers and served on active duty from 1959 until 1961.



Upon returning to civilian life, Mr. Vaughn went to work for the M.W. Kellogg Company as a construction field engineer, and 20 years later became vice president of construction and later, president and CEO. He served in this position until 1994. During this period, the company executed projects ranging from $100 million to $1 billion and achieved record earnings and revenue that exceeded $2 billion per annum. The M.W. Kellogg Company was a pioneer international engineering and construction company in the design and construction of oil and natural gas refineries and process plants. Started by Morris W. Kellogg in the early 1900s, it became one of the most recognized and successful process design and build engineering companies in the oil and natural gas business sector in the world.



In 1988, the company was acquired by Dresser Industries, Inc., a $6 billion revenue manufacturing and service company in the oil and natural gas sector. Mr. Vaughn was promoted to president and COO in 1996 and voted onto the Board of Directors. In 1998, Dresser Industries and Halliburton Company agreed to merge to form the “new” Halliburton Company, the second largest oil and gas engineering and service company in the world with revenues in 1998 of $16 billion. Mr. Vaughn became vice chairman of Hallifurton in 1998 and served on the executive committee until his retirement in 2001.



Today, Mr. Vaughn serves as a director of Shawcor Ltd., a publicly-traded Canadian oil service company whose major business unit, Bredero Shaw, is the largest and most successful pipe corrosion coating, insulation and weight coating company in the world.



Mr. Vaughn is a registered professional engineer (inactive) in Texas. He also serves on the Board of Directors at Houston Exploration Company, a natural gas and oil company that explores, develops, and acquires domestic natural gas and oil properties. Their main areas of focus are in Texas, Gulf of Mexico, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. He served on the nominating and governing committee from 2000 and on the Compensation and Management Development Committee in 2003.



While a student at Virginia Tech, in addition to being a member of the Corps of Cadets, Mr. Vaughn belonged to the Monogram Club and Chi Epsilon fraternity. He is a member of the College of Engineering’s Committee of 100, and was on the Campaign for Excellence in 1983, the Caldwell Society in 2002, and an Ut Prosim benefactor in 2002. Mr. Vaughn is currently involved in various committees and clubs, including: director, Center Houston, Inc.; senior representative, Greater Houston Partnership and Texas Research League; member, Houston Area Executive Committee; member, Business Arts Fund of Houston; member, Texas Engineering Society; member, International Policy Committee, U.S. Corps of Cadets; member, 25 Year Club – Petroleum Industry Clubs; member, Houston City Club; member, Heritage Club; member, Coronado Club; and member, Houston Met. Club.



He and his wife, Moira, have two daughters, Sandra and Connie, and one son, James. Both daughters graduated as engineers from the University of Texas (one civil and one mechanical). Don and his wife live in The Woodlands, Texas