Pender is an executive co-chairman of Venture Global, Inc., an Arlington, Virginia-based LNG supplier which began exporting gas in 2022. A former lawyer, Pender founded Venture Global with ex-banker Mike Sabel in 2013. The company began trading publicly in January 2025 in the largest U.S. energy IPO in four years.
Pender's fortune comes from his ownership stake in Venture Global, Inc., the LNG supplier he co-founded with Mike Sabel in 2013. Pender and Sabel together own all of Venture Global's Class B shares through holding company Venture Global Partners II, LLC, according to the 2025 proxy statement. Pender is credited with half of those shares based on an overview of the company's ownership structure filed as an exhibit in a 2024 lawsuit and a Dec. 18, 2023 Federal Register filing explaining the ownership of the LLC. He also owns about 1.2 million Class A shares directly and through a series of family trusts, according to a January 2026 Form 4 filing.
Pender's cash balance comes from his share of dividends, including those paid out to pre-IPO Venture Global shareholders, and his annual compensation as disclosed in the company's proxy filing. His cash balance is adjusted for taxes and market performance.
Shaylyn Hynes, a Venture Global spokesperson, didn't respond to questions about Pender's net worth.
Bob Pender graduated from Middlebury College in 1976 and attended Georgetown University Law Center. He practiced law for 28 years, including as a partner at Washington, DC-based firm Hogan Lovells, where he specialized in alternative energy project financing throughout the Americas and South Asia.
Pender founded Venture Global with ex-banker Mike Sabel in 2013, four years after they unsuccessfully attempted to develop a coal plant in Sri Lanka. The company promised to provide cheaper LNG to customers by building modular, mid-scale facilities which could be built quickly and expanded easily. Venture Global received authorization to export LNG from the Energy Department in 2016 and signed long-term deals with major oil companies including Shell, BP, Edison, and Sinopec.
Venture Global began shipping LNG from Louisiana in 2022. In January 2025, it became publicly listed at a valuation of $60.5 billion, the largest US energy-sector IPO in four years, according to a January 2025 Bloomberg News report.