Jonathan Wilfong

Jonathan Wilfong is a Vice President at B-29 Investments, LP, the Dallas-based private equity and family-office vehicle representing the interests of energy entrepreneur John Schmitz and his family. Wilfong graduated from Southern Methodist University (Cox School of Business) in 2017 with a BBA in Finance. During his time at SMU he was a walk-on guard (#22) on the men's basketball team, playing from the 2013–14 through 2016–17 seasons under the SMU Mustangs program. Early in his career he interned as a summer analyst at EnCap Investments, an upstream energy-focused private equity firm, and at LCM Group, an asset management firm.

Before joining B-29, Wilfong worked at Simmons Energy (a division of Piper Jaffray/Piper Sandler), an energy-focused investment bank, where he concentrated primarily on companies in the oilfield services space. He joined B-29 Investments in 2019. His primary responsibilities include evaluating new investment opportunities, supporting portfolio company management teams, and maintaining banking and financial-sponsor relationships.

Outside of finance, Wilfong is notable as a co-founder of Coaching for Literacy (now operating nationally as Champions for Literacy), a nonprofit he started in 2012 as a high school senior in Memphis, Tennessee alongside friend Andrew Renshaw, after being challenged by a Memphis University School faculty member, Spencer Reese, to "make a difference." The organization pairs athletic programs with early-intervention literacy initiatives through its "Assistant Coach Program"; by 2017 it had raised roughly $600,000 and used SMU basketball as a platform to grow into a national charity.

B-29 Investments itself has more than 20 years of history (its principals cite 25+ years of energy investing and 45+ years of industry operating experience). Its model is to act as owner/operators, integrating into portfolio-company management — often at the CEO, CFO, COO, or board level — rather than as passive minority capital.

• Invests through B-29's owner/operator private equity model, frequently taking active management or board roles in portfolio companies rather than passive stakes.
• Core sector focus is energy: oilfield services, exploration & production, and midstream infrastructure — the markets where B-29 has traditionally deployed capital.
• Seeks companies with "sound business models within rapidly-growing industries," reflecting B-29's stated long-term approach across private and public companies.
• Beyond energy, the broader B-29 platform also allocates to real estate (B-29 Realty) and land/ranch assets (Stark Ranch), and affiliated businesses include Merit Advisors and MyWorkDoc.
• Wilfong's personal deal work centers on oilfield services opportunities, consistent with his Simmons Energy investment-banking background.