BISMARCK, N.D. – Gov. Doug Burgum on Tuesday appointed Brian Kroshus to the North Dakota Public Service Commission (PSC), emphasizing his background as a business and community leader and his experience in looking out for the public interest.
Kroshus is currently group publisher for Mandan-based Lee Agri-Media, leading a staff of 150 employees for the nation’s largest network of agricultural newspapers across a 15-state region. He was publisher of the Bismarck Tribune from 2005 to 2015.
“Accountability, transparency and responsibility to the public are foundations of the newspaper business, and I’m pleased to appoint Brian Kroshus to the PSC where he can apply that experience for the benefit of North Dakota consumers,” Burgum said.
The governor appointed Kroshus to the PSC seat formerly held by Brian Kalk, who resigned last month from the three-member PSC to take a position at the University of North Dakota’s Energy and Environmental Research Center. An election will be held in November 2018 for the remaining two years of Kalk’s unexpired six-year term.
Kroshus said that while North Dakota has an impressive track record of success, to remain prosperous it will need vibrant communities supported by responsible, safe infrastructure.
“As a business operator, private landowner and consumer, I fully understand the partnership that must exist between industry, state government and public interests,” Kroshus said. “I am committed to giving a fair and thorough review to proposals for new utilities, pipelines and other infrastructure needed to sustain North Dakota’s growth and our nation’s energy needs.”
A native of Fargo, Kroshus earned a bachelor’s degree in animal science and economics from North Dakota State University in 1987. He spent 10 years with Forum Communications in Fargo before joining the Bismarck Tribune in 1997. He was promoted to group publisher for Lee Agri-Media in 2004.
Kroshus has served on the board of directors of the Bismarck-Mandan Chamber of Commerce, Bismarck-Mandan Development Association and the United Way, and on the board of trustees for the Bismarck State College Foundation, Sanford Health Foundation and Lewis and Clark Fort Mandan Foundation.
The PSC is a constitutional agency with varying degrees of statutory authority over electric and gas utilities, power plants, telecommunications companies, transmission line and pipeline siting, coal mine reclamation, grain elevators, auctioneers and auction clerks, weighing and measuring devices, pipeline safety and railroads.