J. Hunter Farris was born in Houston, Texas. He graduated from Texas A&M University with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering.

Hunter started his career with ExxonMobil in 1991 as a Facility / Project Engineer with ExxonMobil Production Company in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Since then, he has held positions of increasing responsibility in various fields including engineering support, operations management, major projects management, crude oil trading and strategic business planning.

In 2005, Hunter became Operations Manager for Esso Exploration and Production Norway AS in Stavanger, Norway where he was responsible for ExxonMobil's Norwegian North Sea operated production.

In 2008, Hunter became Global Planning & Commercial Manager in Houston. In 2011, Hunter became the Deputy Production Manager for ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Malaysia Inc.

In 2012, Hunter was appointed Chairman of the ExxonMobil Subsidiaries in Malaysia. In 2014, Hunter was named Global Engineering Vice President for ExxonMobil Production Company.

In 2016, Hunter was named Regional Vice President – Europe/Caspian for ExxonMobil Production Company. In 2018, Hunter was name Regional Vice President – Africa for ExxonMobil Production Company.

In April 2019, Hunter was named Senior Vice President – Deepwater for ExxonMobil Upstream. Hunter and his wife Teresa have a son. He enjoys spending time with his family, mountain biking and water sports on the lake.