Kirby, born 1860 in Tyler County Texas, acted as Kenneth Lay of the early 1900's. He began his career in the lumber industry but then would later join forces with Patrick Calhoun, a corporate attorney, to capitalize with Houston Oil. Kirby would always be involved in every social and political battle there was, just as Lay would be with Enron. Raised huge amount of money for political campaigns as he served two terms in the Texas legislature and was a delegate to the 1916 Democratic National Convention. He then started Kirby Petroleum and by 1925, the corporation was worth an estimated $13 Million. Kirby, like Lay, eventually filed for bankruptcy in 1933 for owing the federal government $120,000 in income taxes. He is known to have influenced many before his death in 1940. This is why the people of Houston will never forget why the Texas energy business is the way it is today. .
In comes Kenneth Lee Lay, born April 15th, 1942 in Tyrone, Missouri. Known as a hard worker since his childhood, Lay always dreamt of owning his own business as a child. He attended the University of Missouri, where he would meet his mentor, Pinkney Walker. Lay graduated with a degree in Economics as he took every class Walker had taught. Out of school he joined the Navy and was assigned to the pentagon. He convinced high ranked officers into letting him work on his doctorate in Economics. After receiving his PhD, he would go on to work for Florida Gas and then later on Transco. Florida Gas is where he had met Jack Bowen, CEO of Florida Gas at the time, but then left for Transco as Lay shortly followed. He would later divorce his first wife, mainly because he wasn't very good at confrontations. This is one of the weaknesses that would later play out at Enron, as he always displayed powerless management skills. Eventually in 1986, Kenneth Lay is named CEO at Enron, on year after the merger took place between HNG (Houston Natural Gas) and Internorth.