Jim D. Kempton

Jim D. Kempton began his service on the commission on Oct. 22. 2007. Kempton was appointed by Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter to fill the unexpired term of Commissioner Paul Kjellander. Gov. Otter appointed Kjellander to head the newly created Office of Energy Resources. On April 6, 2009, Kempton was elected president of the commission.

Before he was appointed to the commission, Kempton was one of two Idaho representatives on the Northwest Power and Conservation Council, appointed to that post by former Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne. While on the council, he also acted as a natural resource cabinet member for Gov. Otter.

Kempton, of Albion, was a member of the Idaho House of Representatives from 1991-2000, where he served on the House Revenue and Taxation Committee and chaired the Transportation and Defense Committee. Earlier, he served for two years on the Environmental Affairs Committee. Kempton earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in physics from the University of Idaho. He was a fighter pilot in the United States Air Force and an assistant professor of physics at the United States Air Force Academy. He also worked in the Pentagon as Department of Defense liaison between the Secretary of Commerce and Secretary of Defense on international co-production programs. His Pentagon assignments included Air Force research and development responsibilities in the F-16 fighter program and coordinating Iranian Program Review briefings to the Secretary of the Air Force.

He returned to Idaho in 1981 and was engaged in ranching until 1990, when he was elected to the Idaho Legislature. He is a former member of the "Idaho EPSCoR" Board, a National Science Foundation experimental program to stimulate competitive research. He and his wife, Susan, are the parents of two grown daughters.