Commissioner Ward Loyd

Ward Loyd is a fourth generation Kansan, although the seismograph crew his father was the blaster for was stationed out of Henderson, Kentucky, long enough for Loyd to be born there on February 8, 1943. After being raised on a farm near Kiowa, Kansas, Loyd earned a Bachelor of Arts in History and Political Science from Southwestern College in 1965, and then received his law degree Cum Laude from Washburn University School of Law in 1968. Upon graduation, he practiced law in Garden City, Kansas; first in partnership with Ray H. Calihan, Logan N. Green, R.H. Calihan, Jr., and Daniel J. High, and later as a sole practitioner. Loyd was appointed to the Kansas Corporation Commission on February 24, 2010, for the balance of a term which expires in March, 2012.

Over the years Loyd was actively involved in numerous community and professional organizations; including serving on three occasions as City Commissioner for Garden City, with two terms as Mayor, and as a member of the board of directors of the Western Kansas Community Foundation; a director and president of the Southwest Kansas Bar Association, and a member of the Kansas Supreme Court Client Protection Fund from 2000 to 2006. The City of Garden City awarded him the Key to the City in 1995; the Chamber of Commerce bestowed its Award of Merit/Distinguished Service Award in 1992.

From 1999 to 2007 Loyd served as a state representative in the Kansas Legislature, variously serving on the Utilities, Judiciary, Education, and Corrections and Juvenile Justice Committees, among others. In addition, he has had public policy experience through his service on the executive boards of the Kansas Water Congress, the Council of State Governments, the Midwest Legislative Conference (CSG Midwest), and the national Coalition for Juvenile Justice, where he was national vice chair and chair-elect at the time of his appointment to the Commission.

Loyd is a member of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC), the NARUC Committee on Telecommunications, and the Midwest Association of Regulatory Commissioners (MARC).

Loyd and his wife, Suzanne (Susie), a Crystal Apple Teacher, have two daughters, Katherine and Keele and three grandchildren.