Robert A. Hefner III is Founder and Owner of GHK (www.ghkco.com), a private natural gas company headquartered in Oklahoma City. He pioneered ultradeep natural gas exploration and production. GHK led the development of innovative technology needed to successfully drill and produce many of the world's deepest and highest pressure natural gas wells - setting many industry world records along the way. In the 1970s, Hefner was a leader in the industry's successful efforts to deregulate the price of natural gas. These technological and political accomplishments led to the development of vast new domestic natural gas resources. Since the 1980s, Hefner has pursued his interest in China in the areas of energy, foreign affairs, and contemporary Chinese art, The Hefner Collection (www.hefnercollection.com). He is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society of London, a member of Singapore's International Advisory Panel (IAP) on Energy, and a Member of the International Council at the Belfer Center at Harvard. Hefner and his wife MeiLi initiated and support the Robert and MeiLi Hefner Foundation Initiatives. They have brought rising young Chinese government officials to study in the fields of energy, culture and foreign policy at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and the National University of Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. Hefner holds a Petroleum Geology degree from the University of Oklahoma. His book, The Grand Energy Transition, was published by John Wiley & Sons in 2009. In 2010, Hefner was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame.