Commissioner Dwight D. Keen

Dwight D. Keen was appointed to the KCC by Governor Jeff Colyer on March 29, 2018 and confirmed by the Kansas Senate on April 7, 2018. He served as Chairman from January 17, 2019, to January 16, 2020 and served as Chair from January 13, 2022 to January 17, 2023. Keen was reappointed to the Commission for a second term by Governor Laura Kelly on March 17, 2022 and confirmed by the Senate on March 23, 2022. His second term expires March 15, 2026.

Keen is a member of NARUC, serving on the Committee on Gas, Subcommittee on Pipeline Safety and the Subcommittee on Clean Coal and Carbon Management. He is also a member of the NARUC Gas-Electric Alignment for Reliability (GEAR) Working Group, a collaborative effort between state regulators and industry representatives to develop solutions to better align and coordinate the gas and electric industries to maintain and improve the reliability of the nation’s electricity grid. In addition, Keen serves on the Advisory Council of the New Mexico State University Center for Public Utilities.

Keen is the Official Representative for Kansas to the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission (IOGCC), and has previously served on its Steering, and Resolutions Committees. He presently serves as a member of the Finance Committee and the IOGCC Legal and Regulatory Affairs Committee.

Keen has experience in business, law and government. His 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.

He is a U.S. Army Vietnam veteran.

Keen and his wife Lenore reside in Winfield.