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Founders
Jo Bob and Mary Ann Hille founded the Hille Foundation in 1997. It was a natural outgrowth of the spirit of giving in which they had been raised and of the basic Christian principle of lending a hand where needed. Feeling a deep loyalty, additionally, to the people and state of Oklahoma where they both had grown up, they set up the Hille Foundation to focus on benefiting those closest at hand, hoping to extend to others the opportunities that had been generously given to them.
Jo Bob Hille was born in 1941, and raised in Collinsville, Oklahoma. He attended Oklahoma University where he majored in petroleum engineering and joined Sigma Chi Fraternity. He completed his degree at the University of Tulsa and began a life-long career in the oil and gas business with his first job at Sunray D-X Oil Company. He eventually settled in Tulsa with his wife and college sweetheart, Mary Ann Moyers, in 1972, when he joined Andover Oil Company. He went on to co-found Vintage Petroleum, a publicly traded oil and natural gas company on the New York Stock Exchange. Jo Bob served in many positions at Vintage including Chief Executive Officer, and retired in 1999. He passed away in 2006, but left a legacy of giving and generosity that transcends his death. He was always a small town boy who held the idea of community and the support of community efforts in the highest regard.
Mary Ann Hille grew up in Tulsa, graduated from Edison High School, and attended Oklahoma University where she was a member and officer of Delta Gamma. She met her husband Jo Bob there and later completed her Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Tulsa. She went on to receive a master's degree in human relations from the University Center at Tulsa, graduating magna cum laude. She worked as a high school and elementary school teacher, a case manager, and as a volunteer for many positions on PTAs, boards, church groups, and community service agencies, and presently serves as a trustee for the Hille Foundation. Mary Ann and Jo Bob raised four children together and were married 43 years at the time of his death. Their family believes passionately that contributing to the common good is both an expectation and a reward.
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