Gunn was appointed to the Missouri Public Service Commission on March 13, 2008, by Governor Matt Blunt. He was confirmed by the Missouri State Senate on April 10, 2008 and sworn in on April 21, 2008. He was appointed as chairman by Gov. Jay Nixon on February 10, 2011. Gunn stepped down from the Commission on March 1, 2013.
Prior to his appointment to the commission, Gunn was an attorney in private law practice in St. Louis with the law firm of Sonnenschein, Nath and Rosenthal.
In 2000, Chairman Gunn joined the Gephardt in Congress Committee, working on the congressional campaign of Democratic Leader Richard A. Gephardt. He continued working for the committee until 2003. During his tenure, Mr. Gunn also worked on congressional redistricting in Missouri and was appointed by Governor Bob Holden to serve on the Missouri Commission on Reapportionment for the representative districts.
From January 2003 until January 2005, Chairman Gunn was chief of staff to Rep. Richard Gephardt overseeing all Congressional operations in Washington D.C. and St. Louis. Upon Representative Gephardt’s retirement in January 2005, Mr. Gunn formed Gunn Communications LLC. In 2005, Chairman Gunn left Gunn Communications LLC to begin work for several large St. Louis law firms, practicing primarily in the area of governmental affairs.
Chairman Gunn received his Bachelor of Arts in political science from American University in 1992 and earned his Juris Doctor from St. Louis University School of Law in 1996. While in law school, Gunn worked for the Missouri Attorney General’s office and interned for Federal District Judge George F. Gunn (no relation).
In 2008, Gunn was awarded an Eisenhower Fellowship. In May 2009, he traveled to Australia to study energy and economic development, carbon pollution reduction schemes, renewable energy targets and carbon capture and sequestration.
Also in May 2009, Chairman Gunn was appointed to the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) Board of Directors and currently serves on the Committee on International Relations. In September 2009, Chairman Gunn was appointed Co-Chair of the NARUC Washington Action Program and in January 2012, he was appointed to the NARUC Committee on Electricity. Chairman Gunn is a member of the Executive Committee of the Eastern Interconnection States’ Planning Council (EISPC) and the Eastern Interconnection Planning Collaborative (EIPC) and the EIPC Stakeholder Steering Committee (SSC).
In February 2012, Chairman Gunn was honored to receive the Terry Barnich Award on behalf of the Missouri Commission and Staff for their partnership with Moldova. This new award was presented by his colleagues in honor of former Illinois Commerce Commission Chair Terry Barnich, who was killed in Iraq working to improve their utility infrastructure.
Gunn formerly served as the Chairman of the St. Clare Hospital Foundation Board. He has also served on the Webster Groves City Council, the St. Louis County Fire Standards Commission and the St. Louis Regional Chamber and Growth Association Public Policy Council.
Gunn is married to Amy Collignon Gunn, an attorney, and has two sons Connor and Nathan.