A Highland Park native, retired Naval lieutenant, graduate of Highland Park High School, SMU, and the U.S. Naval School of Justice in Rhode Island, He serves as an advisor to the National Center for Policy Analysis in Washington D.C., as a distinguished trustee of the Abell-Hanger Foundation, as a member of the Board of Governors of Northwood University, and founding member of the Board of the Institute for Humane Studies, Inc., at George Mason University. In addition to his other interests, he serves as a ruling elder of the Highland Park Presbyterian Church, a member of the board of the Richter International Piano Competition in Moscow and visiting lecturer in economics and entrepreneurship at the Russian American Christian University, also in Moscow. Jerry currently is the founder and Vice Chairman of Hillwood International Energy, an oil and gas exploration and development firm with offices in Dallas, Fort Worth, Moscow, and Amman, and continues as CEO of VF-Russia Inc., an oil and gas development company he founded in 1991.