Joseph T. Kelliher

Who is Joseph T. Kelliher?

Joseph Timothy Kelliher is an American energy executive and former chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Kelliher received his bachelor's degree from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service in 1983. In 1994 he graduated with a Juris Doctor, magna cum laude, from Washington College of Law at American University. After law school, Kelliher worked in a private law firm and then on the staff of U.S. Representative Joe Barton, a Republican from Texas. He served briefly as the director of legislative programs for the American Nuclear Energy Council and represented Public Service Electric and Gas Company until 1995.

In 1995 he went to work for the U.S. House Committee on Commerce as Republican counsel for oversight over DOE on electricity, nuclear waste, hydropower, and energy conservation matters. After leaving the Hill in 2000, he briefly reenterred the private practice of law, and also served on the Bush/Cheney Presidential Transition Team in late 2000 and early 2001. Kelliher then went to work for the Department of Energy where he served as a senior policy advisor on electricity and other domestic energy issues, including doing staff work for the Energy Task Force.