Hal Jones, 44, native Texan, was raised in Houston and San Antonio with a love for the outdoors. Jones started his career after attending North Texas State where he pursued his second passion: aviation. After obtaining his pilot’s license, Jones transfered to the University of Texas at Austin where he studied economics and finance.

Beginning in 1986 Jones joined Ohmstede, the family’s Heat Exchanger business in Beaumont, Texas. There he gained valuable experience, which he later capitalized on.

In 1991 he embarked on his first entrepreneurial venture founding Gamefisher Rod Company, based in Boca Raton Florida, which he ran for four years and eventually sold in 1995. In 1996, Jones came back to Houston where he saw the opportunity to roll up the fragmented industry that he identified while working for Ohmstede. Originally against his father’s wishes, Jones convinced his two brothers and his father to join him in a venture appropriately named United Industrial Services. Through acquisitions and spin-offs, today the company is better known as Universal Plant Services which will gross over 50 million in sales from the power and petrochemical industries. After 9 years as CEO of the company, Jones stepped aside to be co-chairman of the board with his father Harry Jones, a well-respected real estate developer. Driven by his love for the outdoors and following in his father‘s footsteps, Jones moved to the Austin area in 2006 and set his sights on real estate development with a focus on the Texas Hill Country and the Texas Coast.