Alex Cranberg was raised in Los Alamos, NM, Charlottesville, VA, and Austin, TX.  He graduated from University of Texas at Austin in 1977 receiving a degree in Petroleum Engineering.  He went on to earn his MBA from Stanford University in 1981.

Alex worked as an operations and reservoir engineer for Houston Oil and Minerals Corp, later joining General Atlantic Partners, where he was responsible for its successful petroleum investments in the volatile 1980’s.  In 1992, Alex started Aspect Holdings, LLC (formerly Aspect Energy, LLC), which was named for his philosophy of embracing diverse and innovative approaches to solving problems and creating opportunities.  Aspect is now a respected and active global company managing a 2008 E&P capital budget of over $300 million.  Currently we have exploration efforts in the Gulf Coast, Hungary, Kurdistan and Belize.

Alex is also active in philanthropy.  His philanthropic efforts are focused both on backing diversity and innovation in education (as Chairman of ACE Scholarship Foundation) and activism in a variety of public policy areas.