Nicandros Named Rice University Board Trustee

CONTACT: Michael Cinelli

PHONE: (713) 831-4794

NICANDROS NAMED RICE UNIVERSITY BOARD TRUSTEE

Constantine “Dino” Nicandros, immediate past chairman,
president and chief executive officer of Conoco Inc., has been named a trustee
of the Rice University Board of Governors.

Nicandros, 63, is chairman of CSN and Company, a private consulting and
investment firm. He previously served as a term governor on the Rice board.

“I am very pleased that Dino Nicandros accepted this appointment,” said E.
William Barnett, chair of the Rice Board of Governors. “His dedication to
excellence in his professional career and private life will continue to serve us
well as we prepare the university for the next millennium.”

Rice president Malcolm Gillis said, “From its inception, Rice has been
governed by men and women of great vision and energy. All have had an
uncompromising dedication to the high standards that have made Rice the
university it is today. Dino Nicandros is squarely within this tradition. We are
extremely fortunate and exceedingly grateful to have the benefit of his
considerable experience and ability.”

Nicandros began his career in the planning department at Conoco Inc., in
Houston in 1957. He moved to New York City in 1961 in the same department. Three
years later he transferred to the land acquisition international
exploration-production department.

He became director of planning for the eastern hemisphere in 1966, and
general manager, then vice president of supply and transportation of the eastern
hemisphere in 1971. Three years later he was named executive vice president of
Conoco’s eastern hemisphere refining, marketing, supply and transportation
operations.

In 1975, Nicandros was named executive vice president of worldwide supply and
transportation for Conoco based in Stamford, Conn. He moved to Houston in 1978
as group executive vice president of petroleum products for Conoco. He was named
president of petroleum operations in 1983 and president and CEO of Conoco in
1987.

Nicandros and his wife, Tassie, support the Owl Club, the Shepherd Society
and the annual gifts program at Rice. They also provided the funds to establish
the Constantine S. Nicandros Public Policy Internships at the James A. Baker III
Institute for Public Policy.

Nicandros was chairman of the corporate campaign for the Alice Pratt Brown
Hall and the George R. Brown Hall (1989-90).

His daughter Vicky Elliot is a Rice graduate (political science, 1987).

Nicandros has served on numerous corporate and civic boards. He was vice
chairman, board of directors of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., Wilmington,
Del. Also, he is on the boards of Texas Commerce Bank, Cooper Industries, Inc.,
Keystone International, Mitchell Energy and Development, Baylor College of
Medicine, and the Texas Center for Superconductivity, University of Houston
(1989-91).

Additional board memberships include the Houston Symphony (chairman); the
Greater Houston Partnership (1989-95); United Way of the Texas Gulf Coast
(1986-91, campaign chairman in 1988); Houston Museum of Fine Arts; Houston
Ballet Foundation; Houston Grand Opera (senior chairman); and the Texas Chapter
of the American Committee on the French Revolution Bicentennial (chairman,
1989).

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