Warner Baxter of Ameren Corporation
Mr. Baxter joined Union Electric in August 1995 as assistant controller after serving as senior manager in Price Waterhouse's national office in New York City. He worked in that office's Accounting and SEC Services Department, assisting in formulating firm wide accounting positions, including those related to the public utilities industry, as well as monitoring the activities of various accounting standard-setting bodies.
From 1983 to 1993, Mr. Baxter worked in the Accounting and Auditing Services Department of the firm's St. Louis office, where he provided auditing and consulting services to clients in a variety of industries. Mr. Baxter was also a member of Price Waterhouse's National Public Utilities Industry Services Group.
He was named controller of the Union Electric Company in 1996. Following the 1997 merger of Union Electric and CIPSCO Incorporated, he served as vice president and controller of Ameren Corporation and Ameren Services. He was named to his present position September 5, 2001.
Jim Burg, South Dakota Public Utilities Commission
Jim Burg was first elected to the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission in 1986, and was elected Chairman in 1989 and again in 1997. He is currently the chairman of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) Committee on Electricity, and is a member of the Administration Subcommittee and the Board of Directors as well as Chairman of Washington Action. He is immediate past President of the Mid-American Regulatory Commissioners (MARC). Jim currently serves on the Advisory Board of the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI).
Chairman Burg served in the South Dakota House of Representatives from 1975 to 1984 and the State Senate during the 1985-1986 term. He served in the South Dakota National Guard from 1963 until 1990 when he retired with the rank of Lt. Colonel. Jim holds a degree from South Dakota State University.
Jim and his wife, Bernice, raised five children on their family farm just east of Wessington Springs, South Dakota.
Randy Bynum, Arkansas Public Service Commission
Commissioner Bynum joined the Arkansas Public Service Commission in 2003, with a term that will expire in 2007. Randy has been in private law practice in Washington D.C. and Little Rock, Arkansas since 1989. He was president of Bynum Furniture Group, Inc. from 1995 to 2000. He received a law degree with high honors from the George Washington University in 1989 and a bachelor’s degree with honors in 1982 from the University of Arkansas. Commissioner Bynum is licensed to practice law in Arkansas and the District of Columbia and holds a Certified Public Accountant certificate (inactive) in Arkansas. Randy resides in Little Rock, Arkansas with his wife Anne and their three children.
Jeff Cloud, Oklahoma Corporation Commission
Jeff Cloud was elected to the Oklahoma Corporation Commission on November 5, 2002, to fill the seat being vacated by the retirement of Commissioner Ed Apple.
Cloud worked as a petroleum landman before being hired by Henry Bellmon to be his personal assistant during Bellmon’s successful 1986 run for governor. Cloud also served in the Bellmon administration until 1989. Cloud then worked for Congressman Mickey Edwards before joining the General Counsel’s staff at the Oklahoma Corporation Commission. J.C. Watts, who was a Corporation Commissioner at that time, tapped Cloud to be his top aide. After Watts’ election to Congress in 1994, Cloud served as Congressman Watts’ District Director and managed his successful reelection campaign in 1996. In 1998, Cloud went to the Oklahoma City Mayor Kirk Humphreys’ office to serve as the Mayor’s chief of staff.
Commissioner Cloud holds a degree in Petroleum Land Management from the University of Oklahoma and a law degree from Oklahoma City University. He resides in Oklahoma City with his wife and three children.
Chris B. Giles of Kansas City Power & Light
Chris Giles began his career with Kansas City Power & Light in 1975 in the Rates and Contracts Department. He held various positions in the regulatory area until 1988. From 1988 through 1993 he was the director of Marketing. In 1994 he returned to Regulatory and is now the responsible for Regulatory and Business Planning as the Senior Director of Regulatory and Resource Management.
He has served on the Kansas Legislative Task Force on Retail Wheeling and on the Missouri Public Service Commission Task Force on Retail Competition. Giles testifies frequently regarding utility issues and policies before both the Missouri and Kansas legislatures and the Missouri and Kansas Public Service Commissions.
He received a BA in Economics and an MBA from the University of Missouri – Kansas City.
Bill Gipson, Empire District Electric Company
William L. Gipson joined The Empire District Electric Company in March 1981 in the Information Technology area and was promoted to the Manager of Economic Development in 1987. In October 1995 he was promoted to Director of Commercial Operations and in February 1997 was named General Manager of Commercial Operations. He was elected Vice President – Commercial Operations in April 1997, Executive Vice President in February 2001, and Chief Operating Officer in October 2001. He became President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company in May 2002.
Gipson is a board member of the Joplin Business and Industrial Development Corporation and Joplin Area Chamber of Commerce where he is a Divisional Vice-Chairman and Chairman-Elect. He is also a board member of the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and is a member of the School of Business Advisory Council at Missouri Southern State University. He also serves as Chairman of the Missouri Energy Development Association. In 1992 Bill was honored as the Outstanding Alumnus at Missouri Southern.
A native of Jasper County, Missouri, Gipson graduated from Missouri Southern State University with a Bachelors Degree in Management Technology.
Michael Heim, A.G. Edwards
Michael Heim came to A.G. Edwards as a Vice President in 1989. He covers the natural gas industry, including gas transmission and distribution utilities. Heim has been selected for the Wall Street Journal Best on the Street Survey in 1998, 2001, and 2002. A.G. Edwards has been selected as best stock pickers of gas utilities in a 2003 poll of institutional investors by Greenwich Associates. Heim is a Chartered Financial Analyst and he holds an MBA from Washington University in St. Louis and a BA from Carleton College in Minnesota.
Dr. Douglas N. Jones
Dr. Doug Jones is Professor of Regulatory Economics in the School of Public Policy and Management at The Ohio State University where he has been a member of the faculty since 1978. He is an internationally prominent scholar in the areas of regulatory economics, public finance, and regional development. His research has been published in various professional and trade journals, proceedings, and congressional committee prints.
After earning his Ph.D. in economics from Ohio State in 1960, he was an associate professor of economics at the United States Air Force Academy. Professor Jones has also served as Chief Economist and Research Director on the President’s Committee for Developing Alaska, Special Assistant to the Secretary of Commerce for Regional Economic Development, Economist and Legislative Assistant to U.S. Senator Mike Gravel, and Assistant Director of the Economics Division of the Congressional Research Service.
Professor Jones served as the Director of the National Regulatory Research Institute from 1978 to 1998.
Brian Moline of Kansas Corporation Commission
Brian J. Moline was appointed to the Kansas Corporation Commission in 1998 by Governor Bill Graves. He was elected Chair by the three-member Commission in May 2003. Commissioner Moline is currently serving a four-year term which expires in March 2006.
Mr. Moline served as General Counsel to the KCC from 1979 to 1985 and from 1991 to 1995. He has also been General Counsel to the Kansas Insurance Commissioner and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. Throughout his career, he has alternated between state government service and Kansas Legal Services, the statewide public interest law firm he co-founded in 1978.
Mr. Moline holds a Bachelor of Arts from Wichita State University, a Juris Doctor from Washburn University, and a Masters in Public Administration from the University of Kansas. He is the author of Regulation in Transition, a monograph of the KCC and has published numerous articles and book reviews. He is an Adjunct Professor at Kansas University and Washburn Law School.
Kelvin Simmons of Missouri Public Service Commission
Governor Mel Carnahan appointed Commissioner Kelvin L. Simmons to the Missouri Public Service Commission in May 2000. In July 2001, Governor Bob Holden named Simmons chairman of the PSC. His term will expire in April 2005.
Prior to his appointment to the PSC, Simmons was elected in 1997 and 1999 to serve as a member of the Kansas City Council. He represented more than 72,000 constituents in Kansas City’s 5th Council District.
Commissioner Simmons also worked as a senior staff member to the late Governor Mel Carnahan, serving as the Director for Constituent Services from 1993 until 1996. In addition, Commissioner Simmons was the State Director for Equal Employment Opportunity in the Office of Administration.
In addition to his Commission duties, Chairman Simmons serves as Secretary of the Missouri Universal Service Board and is a member of the National Association of Regulatory Commissioners (NARUC) where he currently serves on the Electricity Committee. Simmons also serves on the NARUC committee for International Relations. Chairman Simmons currently serves as Co-Chairman of the Utilities Commission of the Homeland Security Task Force. He is also a member of the Governor’s Security Council.
Mr. Simmons has degrees in Communications and Interdisciplinary Studies from University of Missouri-Columbia and an Executive Masters in Business Administration from the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
Brian M. Youngberg of Edward Jones
Brian Youngberg is a senior utilities analyst for Edward Jones. He has worked with companies in the electric and gas sector for several years, performing equity research, assigning credit ratings and providing corporate banking services.
Prior to joining Edward Jones in mid-2000, Youngberg was a vice president with Duff & Phelps Credit Rating Co. in Chicago, where he worked in the Global Power Group. Before joining Duff & Phelps in 1996, he was a corporate banking officer with two major banks, where he called on Fortune 500 firms across the Midwest. At Edward Jones, he earned the Wall Street Journal’s “Best on the Street” honors for 2001 and 2002, ranking No. 1 in the utilities sector in 2001.
Youngberg, a Chartered Financial Analyst, is a graduate of the University of Nebraska and has an MBA from Washington University in St. Louis. He has been quoted on energy topics in various publications including The Wall Street Journal, Time, Business Week, the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Washington Post, the San Francisco Chronicle, and the Houston Chronicle.
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