Terry Bassham is chairman, president and chief executive officer of Great Plains Energy and Kansas City Power and Light. As chairman, he is the only management representative on the board. Terry Bassham was appointed president and chief executive officer of Great Plains Energy and KCP&L, effective June 2012. Prior to being named to his current position, Mr. Bassham served as president and chief operating officer, where he focused on achieving Tier 1 performance in safety, operations and customer service.
Mr. Bassham served originally as KCP&L’s executive vice president of finance & strategic development and chief financial officer and more recently as executive vice president – utility operations. He was instrumental in leading KCP&L through its comprehensive energy plan, an ambitious initiative that included building 100 megawatts of wind power, installing environmental retrofits at several generating facilities and constructing Iatan 2, an 850-megawatt coal-fired power plant. Mr. Bassham also helped transform KCP&L’s business through the sale of Strategic Energy and the acquisition of Aquila, which doubled the company’s workforce and significantly increased its service territory.
Before joining KCP&L in March 2005, Mr. Bassham was executive vice president, chief financial officer and chief administrative officer for El Paso Electric Company (EPE) in Texas, where he oversaw the financial, treasury, and regulatory and administrative functions. He joined EPE in 1996 as general counsel with responsibility for legislative affairs, regulatory affairs and corporate governance.
Active in the Kansas City area community, Mr. Bassham serves on several boards, including the Guadalupe Centers Inc., the Kansas City Symphony, United Way of Greater Kansas City, Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, Civic Council of Greater Kansas City, Linda Hall Library and win/win, a Central Exchange initiative.
Mr. Bassham holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in accounting from the University of Texas-Arlington and a Juris Doctor degree from St. Mary’s University Law School in San Antonio, Texas.