News Release

For more information contact: Linda Berry, (785) 271-3269

April 7, 2018

Senate approves appointment of Dwight D. Keen to Corporation Commission


Topeka - Today, the Kansas Senate confirmed Governor Colyer’s nomination of Dwight D. Keen to a four-year term as a Commissioner on the Kansas Corporation Commission (KCC). His term expires March 15, 2022. Keen succeeds Pat Apple who did not seek reappointment to the Commission.

“I am most grateful to Governor Colyer for the high honor he has conferred by appointing me to serve as a Commissioner on the Kansas Corporation Commission,” stated Keen. “Service on the KCC is an important, unique and relevant way for me to give back.”

“Commissioner Keen is a welcome addition to the KCC. He brings a wealth of experience in both the public and private sector that will be invaluable in dealing with the many complex issues that come before the Commission,” stated Chair Shari Feist Albrecht.

Keen’s prior legal and finance 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; and practicing corporate and securities law with two prominent Wichita law firms.

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.

From 1998 to 2010, Keen was an Adjunct Professor of Business for the Graduate School at Friends University in Wichita where he taught graduate level courses in Marketing, Managerial Economics, Strategic Planning, Business Law for Executives and Entrepreneurship.

Prior to joining the KCC, Keen operated an independent oil and gas production company. Upon appointment to the KCC, Keen resigned as the managing member of this company and formally severed all forms of management and control over the company.  From 2011 to 2013, he served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Kansas Independent Oil and Gas Association. He has also served as a member of the board of the Eastern Kansas Oil and Gas Association and the Kansas Oil and Gas Resources Fund. Keen has resigned from membership in and from the board of directors of all organizations associated or affiliated with the oil and gas industry. 

Keen has a B.B.A. degree in business administration, a Master of Science degree in business with emphasis in marketing and finance, and a Master of Arts degree in Economics – each of these three degrees are from Wichita State University.  He also has a Juris Doctor degree in law from the University of Kansas School of Law and is a U.S. Army Vietnam veteran.

Keen joins Chair Albrecht and Commissioner Jay Scott Emler on the three-member board. Members 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 Kansas Corporation Commission is a multi-faceted agency responsible for regulating public utilities including electric, natural gas, telecommunication and water companies as well as motor carriers, oil and gas pipelines and oil and natural gas production. The Commission’s headquarters is in Topeka with the central Conservation office in Wichita and four Conservation district offices located in Chanute, Dodge City, Hays and Wichita.