Ross Perot Jr.

Perot earned his wings in the U.S. Air Force, where he served as a pilot for eight years and flew F4 jets. Aviation is a major part of his identity and the early inspiration for his signature development, AllianceTexas, a 27,000-acre master-planned community in North Fort Worth. 

His father, H. Ross Perot, was the founder of Electronic Data Systems and Perot Systems. The elder Perot ran as an Independent candidate in the 1992 presidential election.

Perot Jr. founded Hillwood in 1988 and conceived AllianceTexas, anchored by Fort Worth Alliance Airport, the world’s first purely industrial airport. The development fused aviation infrastructure with logistics, industrial real estate, housing, corporate campuses and mixed-use centers. The development helped reposition North Texas as a global supply-chain hub and reshaped how airports could function as engines of real estate value rather than standalone transportation assets.

The latest move at AllianceTexas is Perot’s partnership with Taylor Sheridan, the creator of “Yellowstone,” to cash in on state incentives with plans to build a filming studio with at least 10 stages. A couple of stages were already operating in 2025.

Perot sold the Dallas Mavericks to Mark Cuban in early 2000, after four years of ownership, and he got into a legal spat over real estate with Cuban after the sale.

— Rachel Stone