At January’s annual Kansas Corporation Commission Organizational Meeting, Commissioner Dwight D. Keen was elected to serve as chairman of the commission. Keen was appointed to the KCC by Gov. Jim Coyler on April 7 to a four-year term, which expires March 15, 2022.

“We will remain dedicated to enhancing the public safety and well-being of Kansans through our commitment to delivering results that advance the public interest,” Keen said in accepting the chairmanship.

Keen has experience in business, law and government. His prior legal, financial and business experience includes serving as a securities attorney with the National Association of Securities Dealers Inc. (presently FINRA) in Washington, D.C.; serving as the senior financial analyst and counsel to the director of corporation finance for a large money center bank in New York City; practicing corporate and securities law with two prominent Wichita law firms; and serving as chairman of the board of directors of the Kansas Independent Oil and Gas Association.

From 1998 to 2010, Keen was an adjunct professor of business for the Graduate School at Friends University in Wichita, where he taught five graduate-level business courses.

Keen’s prior state government service includes: serving for six years as Kansas securities commissioner; serving two terms as a commissioner on the Kansas Commission on Veterans’ Affairs; and serving one four-year term as a member of the Kansas Board of Tax Appeals.

Keen presently serves as the Kansas representative to the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission and is a member of NARUC, serving on the Gas Committee.

Commissioners are appointed by the governor and serve staggered four-year terms. State law provides that no more than two of the three commissioners may belong to the same political party. The commission acts as an independent regulatory agency with authority to render judgments and decisions on regulated utilities.

KCC regulates the state's electric, natural gas, telecommunications, oil and gas, and transportation industries with the responsibility of ensuring safe, adequate and reliable services at reasonable rates for the citizens of Kansas.

Source: Kansas Corporation Commission