After a 33-year teaching career at Washburn University’s School of Law, in 2020 David Pierce retired as emeritus Professor of Law and Norman R. Pozez Chair in Business and Transactional Law. Professor Pierce’s teaching and scholarship focused on oil and gas law, energy law, and environmental law, with an emphasis on Kansas law and policy. He also devoted substantial time to teaching these subjects to practicing lawyers.

From the early 1980s until 2007, Jim Haines was in executive management of Kansas Gas & Electric, Western Resources, and Westar Energy with a break when he was an executive at El Paso Electric Company in Texas. Prior to his career in Kansas, Jim was involved in utility regulation with the Missouri Public Service Commission in the mid- to late 1970s. Jim was born and raised in Jackson, Michigan where he began his post-secondary education at the Jackson Community College. He earned degrees from the University of Missouri Columbia in English Literature and Law.