TOPEKA - At today's annual Kansas Corporation Commission Organizational Meeting, Commissioner Dwight D. Keen was elected to serve as Chair of the three-member Commission. Keen was appointed to the KCC by Governor Jeff Colyer on March 29, 2018.

“We will continue our commitment to balancing customer and utility interests in a manner that ensures efficient and sufficient service at just and reasonable rates. We also remain committed to environmental protection and safeguarding the state’s important freshwater water resources, as well as effectively regulating motor carriers to promote public safety,” said Keen after accepting the nomination from his fellow Commissioners.

Keen has experience in business, law and government. His prior state government service includes serving 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’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. 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 courses.

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 – all from Wichita State University. He also has a Juris Doctor degree in law from the University of Kansas School of Law. Keen is a U.S. Army Vietnam veteran.

Commissioners are appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Kansas Senate. They 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 KCC is an independent regulatory agency that oversees 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.

Photo: Dwight D. Keen

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