Robert M. Clayton III
Robert M. Clayton III was appointed by Governor Bob Holden to a six-year term on the Missouri Public Service Commission1, receiving confirmation by the Missouri State Senate2 on May 8, 2003. He was appointed Chairman of the Commission by Governor Jay Nixon3 on January 13, 2009.
Prior to his appointment to the Missouri Public Service Commission, Robert M. Clayton III was an attorney in private law practice in Hannibal, Missouri as a partner in the general practice firm, Clayton & Curl L.L.C. He formerly served Marion County, Missouri and Shelby County, Missouri in the Missouri General Assembly as the state representative from the 10th District. He was first elected to the Missouri House of Representatives in 1994 and served four consecutive terms.
As a state legislator, Robert M. Clayton III chaired the House Ethics Committee and the Joint Committee on Legislative Research and was Vice-Chairman of the Committee on Criminal Law. He also served on additional House committees including, Appropriations-Transportation, Agriculture and the Judiciary. While in the Missouri General Assembly, Robert M. Clayton III served on the Executive Committees of the Council of State Governments and the Southern Legislative Conference.
Robert M. Clayton III is an ACTIVE member of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners4 (NARUC). He is a former Chairman of the Committee on International Relations, which included serving as the NARUC representative appointed to attend the Presidium of the Energy Regulators Regional Association (ERRA) of Eastern and Central Europe. He has worked with several member nations of the African Forum for Utility Regulation (AFUR) including the nations of Rwanda and Uganda. He has also offered presentations on energy regulation in Azerbaijan, Hungary and before the Organization of Caribbean Utility Regulators.
Robert M. Clayton III was also appointed to chair the Program Advisory Committee for The World Forum on Energy Regulation III, held in October 2006, in Washington, DC. The third triennial conference of its kind (the prior events were held in Montreal, Canada, and Rome, Italy), the World Forum hosted energy regulators, investors and stakeholders from 84 countries. As Chair of the Program Advisory Committee, his committee developed the comprehensive program agenda by coordinating topics of interest for all regulators, regardless of the maturity level of a nation's economy. The program highlighted 125 speakers with 28 different sessions of energy regulatory topics.
Robert M. Clayton III also serves as a general member of the NARUC Telecommunications Committee and is involved in various organizations charged with the regulation and monitoring of telephone utilities. He served as chairman of the Missouri Universal Service Board and is a state commission member of the FCC appointed North American Numbering Council. He is also a member of the Federal Communications Bar Association and the Public Utility, Communications and Transportation Law Section of the American Bar Association. He serves on the Homeland Security Advisory Council, is a member of the Missouri Oil and Gas Council and serves on the Financial Research Institute Advisory Committee.
Robert M. Clayton III also serves as a member of the Washington Action Committee as well as the NARUC Subcommittee on Education and Research. He also serves as a member of the NARUC/FERC Smart Grid Collaborative.
Robert M. Clayton III received the UMKC Law Foundation Decade Award for Achievement in his first ten years of work following law school. He is also a past Recipient of the President’s Award from the Missouri Bar Association and the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association. Clayton also serves as a board member for the Mark Twain Home Foundation.
Robert M. Clayton III received his Bachelor of Arts in History from Southern Methodist University in 1991 and earned his Juris Doctor from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law in 1994.