About FERC
Chairman Joseph T. Kelliher
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Joseph T. Kelliher was named chairman of the Commission by President George W. Bush effective July 9, 2005, after having served as Commissioner since November 20, 2003. As Chairman, Kelliher is chief executive of the agency. In that role, he directs management of the agency’s 1,300 staff and its $260 million budget towards the pursuit of the agency’s five core missions: economic regulation, energy infrastructure, safety, reliability, and enforcement. Chairman Kelliher assumed his role shortly before enactment of the Energy Policy Act of 2005. That law gave FERC its single largest grant of regulatory authority since the 1930s. Implementing the law has been one of his primary challenges. The Energy Policy Act charged FERC with protecting the reliability of the interstate power grid and policing manipulation of wholesale power and natural gas markets. Chairman Kelliher and his colleagues have defined how FERC will discharge these important missions. Since taking office, the Chairman has pursued a series of reforms to promote competitive power and natural gas markets, improve FERC economic regulation, and strengthen the U.S. energy infrastructure, with the objective of ensuring reliable, reasonably priced energy for U.S. consumers. Chairman Kelliher has spent his entire professional career working on energy policy matters, serving in a variety of roles in both public and private sectors, including Senior Policy Advisor to the U.S. Secretary of Energy, Majority Counsel to the House Commerce Committee, as well as positions with private corporations, trade associations, and law firms. The Chairman earned a B.S.F.S. from Georgetown University, School of Foreign Service and graduated with a J.D., Magna Cum Laude from American University Washington College of Law. Chairman Kelliher is married to the former Karen Goff. They have three children, two boys and one girl. » High Resolution Photo |
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