Grant Billingsley, president and CEO of Scharbauer Foundation Inc., will retire at the end of 2024 according to an announcement by the organization. Billingsley became the first employee and executive director of the Foundation in 2011 after working 25 years for Wagner & Brown, Ltd., and serving as chairman and board member of numerous state and local organizations.
“It has been my honor to work for the Foundation from its earliest days, and through these years, I have been blessed to work with an outstanding Board, a talented and dedicated staff, and wonderful funding and project partners. I look forward to cheering on the bigger and better things that will come from these same groups in the years ahead,” Billingsley said in a news release.
Foundation Board Chair Dan Hord said, “Grant was the perfect pick by Mr. Scharbauer to lead this Foundation from its beginning, as Grant has been a leader in addressing long-term issues in Midland. The Foundation has grown from $50 million to over $500 million in assets in 10 years under his leadership and Grant was perfectly suited for the job with a leadership style that can build consensus and push for common long-term solutions. As a mentor to me it has been a privilege to work and learn alongside Grant, I am going to miss his instinctive wisdom.”
Hord said that after learning of Grant’s plan to retire, the Board set about to find the next energetic leader for Scharbauer Foundation. “To that end,” Hord said, “we are very pleased to announce that Mary Ann Beninati will join the Scharbauer Foundation staff later this year and transition to become President and CEO in January 2025.”
Beninati has lived in Midland since 2008. Upon her arrival she joined Concho Resources, where she was Vice President and Chief of Staff at its sale to ConocoPhillips in 2021. Most recently, Beninati was Head of Human Resources – Lower 48 at ConocoPhillips where she led the culture and people integrations of the Midland Office and the Concho and Shell acquisitions. She currently serves as Board President of Trinity School of Midland and is a Past Board President of the YMCA of Midland.
Scharbauer Foundation, Inc. is a private charitable foundation that works to make Midland a better place in which to live and operate a business. Established in 2011, the Foundation prioritizes projects that make significant impacts within its four focus areas of education, health care, public/civic benefit, and human services. For more information, visit scharbauerfoundation.org.
