Commissioner
Bob Anthony
Commissioner Bob Anthony has served as a statewide elected official longer than any other current Oklahoma
office holder, winning his fifth consecutive six-year term on the Oklahoma Corporation Commission in 2012 and
carrying all 77 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 reelection to a state
office. In 2000 he was reelected, receiving more votes at that time than any candidate for state office in
Oklahoma history.
Bob Anthony 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.
Anthony is a member of the National Petroleum Council, having been appointed five times by the United
States Secretary of Energy. 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 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 Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs of the U. S. House of Representatives (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, annual sales for the retail chain increased from $256 to $411 million, with 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 American
Association of Retired Persons of Oklahoma presented Anthony with an award “in appreciation of his tireless
efforts on behalf of Oklahoma consumers.”
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. He and his wife Nancy were married in 1975. They are the parents of four
daughters and have four grandchildren