Vice-Chairman Bob Anthony
Bob Anthony, Republican, is currently the longest serving utility commissioner in the United States and has served six times as chairman of the Oklahoma Corporation Commission. He is a member of the board of directors for the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners and past chairman of the National Regulatory Research Institute. The United States Secretary of Energy has appointed Anthony to a sixth term on the National Petroleum Council. He currently serves on the Public Interest Advisory Committee of the Gas Technology Institute. He is past president of the Mid-America Regulatory Conference, a member and past president of the Economic Club of Oklahoma, and for eight years served as a delegate to the worldwide General Conference of the United Methodist Church.
Anthony holds a BS from the Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania; a Master of Science from the London School of Economics; a Master of Arts from Yale University; and a Master of Public Administration from Harvard University. He rose to the rank of captain in the U.S. Army Reserve. In 1972 he served as staff economist for the United States House of Representatives Interior and Insular Affairs Committee (now called the Natural Resources Committee). From 1979 to 1980 Anthony served on the Oklahoma City Council as Ward 2 Councilman and then as vice mayor. In 1980, at age thirty-two, Anthony became president of C.R. Anthony Company retail stores, then the largest privately-owned firm headquartered in Oklahoma. During his seven-year term as president, the retail chain issued more than 10,000 W-2s annually, with sales, payroll, employment, and dollar profits reaching all-time record levels. In 1988 he was chairman of the Trust Committee of Oklahoma's largest bank trust department.
In 1995 the Federal Bureau of Investigation honored Anthony with its highest award given to a citizen who "at great personal sacrifice, has unselfishly served his community and the nation.” Among other recognitions, the AARP of Oklahoma presented Anthony with an award “in appreciation of his tireless efforts on behalf of Oklahoma consumers.”
Anthony has served as a statewide elected official longer than any other current Oklahoma office holder, winning his sixth consecutive six-year term on the Oklahoma Corporation Commission in 2018, with a victory in all seventy-seven counties. He initially ran for the Corporation Commission in 1988, becoming the first Republican elected to that body in sixty years and receiving more votes than any Republican since statehood. In 1994 Anthony became the first Republican incumbent in Oklahoma history to win statewide re-election to a state office. In 2000 he was re-elected, receiving more votes at that time than any candidate for state office in Oklahoma history.
All four of Anthony's grandparents came to Oklahoma before statehood. His father was born in Cleveland, Oklahoma, and his mother grew up in Enid, Oklahoma. The Commissioner and his wife, Nancy, were married in 1975. They are the parents of four daughters and have five grandchildren.
