John Durand is the founder and CEO of Magnificent Desolation LLC, a private real estate investment company focused on strategic acquisitions and long-term asset stewardship. Prior to this, John Durand was President and Chief Sustainability Officer of XRI Holdings, LLC, the water midstream portfolio company of Morgan Stanley Energy Partners. In his role, John oversaw XRI’s commercial, ESG and governmental relations functions.
John’s career spans more than three decades of upstream, midstream and downstream experience in the oil, gas and water sectors, along with experience in the development and construction of natural gas as well as renewable energy power projects. Notably, John has negotiated landmark public/private partnership agreements in the water space with three Texas municipalities (Midland, Odessa and Fort Stockton).
John holds a Master of Business Administration in Corporate Finance from the University of Dallas and a Bachelor of Science degree in Petroleum Land Management from the University of Louisiana.










