Steven Kean

Steven J. Kean served as Executive Vice President and Chief of Staff at Enron Corporation, where he was the architect and chief executor of the company’s government relations, regulatory affairs, and political strategy. His email archive in the Enron corpus is the largest of any individual, containing 225,633 emails from 956 unique senders spanning 1998 through November 2002. Volume-adjusted signature term analysis reveals that Kean was the definitive figure in the corpus for political and governmental affairs terminology, ranking first among all executives for terms including “privatization,” “deregulation,” “political,” “senator,” and “briefing.”

Kean’s position as Chief of Staff placed him at the intersection of Enron’s internal executive leadership and its external relationships with regulators, legislators, and government officials worldwide. His correspondence patterns and meeting schedules document a sophisticated government affairs operation that engaged with Congress, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), state utility commissions, and international governments across multiple continents.

Career at Enron

Executive Vice President and Chief of Staff

Steven Kean’s title as Executive Vice President and Chief of Staff is verified in Department of Justice trial exhibits, including an Enron organizational chart dated July 31, 2000. In this dual role, Kean served on the Executive Committee, the company’s senior leadership body, while simultaneously overseeing Enron’s global government relations apparatus.

His responsibilities encompassed:

• Participation in strategic decision-making through the Executive Committee
• Oversight of federal, state, and international government affairs teams
• Management of regulatory strategy across FERC and state public utility commissions
• Coordination of political contributions and lobbying activities
• Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) compliance oversight for international political activities
• Public communications and media strategy coordination

The scope of his role is evident in his meeting schedule, which shows regular Executive Committee meetings (1,104 occurrences), Executive Committee breakfasts (483 occurrences), and direct report conference calls (1,794 total occurrences across multiple call formats).

Management of Government Affairs Team

Kean directed a substantial team of government relations professionals. His top correspondents reveal the core members of this operation:

• Richard Shapiro (2,004 emails) - Vice President of Regulatory Affairs
• James D. Steffes (1,914 emails) - Vice President of Government Affairs
• Jeff Dasovich (4,372 emails) - California regulatory specialist
• Susan J. Mara (1,280 emails) - California energy policy
• Cynthia Sandherr (996 emails) - Government affairs professional
• Christi L. Nicolay (1,561 emails) - Regulatory affairs

His executive assistant, Maureen McVicker, appears as his second-highest correspondent with 26,782 emails.

California Energy Crisis Management

The California energy crisis of 2000-2001 dominated Steven Kean’s work during the most active period of his email archive. His involvement was comprehensive, encompassing daily operational coordination, regulatory engagement, political strategy, and media relations.

Daily Coordination and Crisis Response

Kean’s calendar and correspondence reveal an intensive crisis management operation:

• Daily California conference calls (1,989 occurrences) - the single most frequent topic in his archive
• Weekly California calls with Enron Energy Services (EES), Enron North America (ENA), and attorneys
• Weekly coordination calls with Quinn Gillespie (a prominent DC lobbying firm) and Enron’s Washington office (600 occurrences)
• “Project California Daily Conf Call” (391 occurrences)
• Daily crisis update calls

The intensity of this focus is reflected in his email volume during the crisis period. His monthly email count surged from a baseline of 1,500-3,000 emails in 1999 to peak at 11,884 emails in August 2000, the highest single month in his archive. This elevated activity continued through May 2001, with monthly volumes consistently exceeding 7,000 emails.

FERC and Regulatory Engagement

The term “ferc” appears in 10,784 documents in Kean’s corpus. His signature term ownership of “deregulated” (ownership score 1.15, rank 1) and involvement with electricity market reform made him central to Enron’s positioning in the regulatory debates surrounding California’s restructured electricity market.

Kean participated in Enron’s July 12, 2001 second quarter earnings conference call, where he fielded questions about Regional Transmission Organization (RTO) developments and gas market issues in California.

Governor Davis and State Relations

Kean tracked and circulated communications from Governor Gray Davis’s administration regarding California’s electricity crisis proposals. The term “davis” appears in 6,429 documents in his corpus, one of the highest frequencies for any person-related term across the dataset.

Federal Legislative Strategy

Bipartisan Approach and Legislative Wins

Kean oversaw a sophisticated federal legislative operation that engaged both parties in Congress. A July 2000 exchange illustrates the scope and effectiveness of this operation. When Stephen D. Burns reported that a Senate amendment had passed preventing the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and Forest Service from enacting new fiber optic federal lands rights-of-way policies, Kean responded: “Preliminary congratulations! Looks like a good plan. Keep me posted.”

Burns’s report had noted that “The BLM made a last ditch effort to defeat this in the Senate, but we had reached key Senators and staff and they got nowhere,” and that the team would spend the next two days meeting with “key Republicans in the House” having “already recruited the important Democrats.”

This example demonstrates the bipartisan engagement and agency-level opposition that characterized Enron’s legislative work under Kean’s direction.

Washington Presence

Kean maintained regular coordination with Enron’s Washington office and external lobbyists:

• Weekly calls with Quinn Gillespie and DC office (600 occurrences)
• Federal regulatory affairs conference calls (368 occurrences)
• BIPAC Washington briefings (230 occurrences)

His signature term ownership of “senator” (ownership score 0.72, rank 1) and “briefing” (ownership score 0.87, rank 1) reflects his central role in congressional engagement and political intelligence gathering.

International Government Relations

FCPA Compliance and Political Contributions

Kean served as the gatekeeper for all international political activities, requiring Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) review before any foreign political contributions or engagement. A December 5, 2000 email exchange illustrates his approach when Nicholas O’Day in Japan sought approval for a $190 contribution to attend a political cocktail party for a senior Liberal Democratic Party figure.

Kean responded: “I’m ok from a pr and govt affairs standpoint, but we can’t move forward until we have legal (including FCPA) approval… This issue has come up before in Europe. The first time through is the hardest and slowest. After we have run all the traps once, the subsequent requests move faster. But we have to get it right.”

He added a notable observation about Enron’s international profile: “Even in Europe, where our contributions were small and routine, we attracted a bunch of attention just because of who we are (as in Japan Enron attracts alot of attention in Europe – even where other American companies don’t).”

Geographic Scope

Kean’s international government relations responsibilities spanned multiple regions:

India - Dabhol Power Project: Regular “Dabhol Call” meetings (975 total occurrences) reflect his involvement in this major power project, which faced significant political and contractual challenges.

Latin America: His signature term “transredes” (ownership score 1.12, rank 2) refers to the South American pipeline project. Correspondents Leonardo Pacheco (865 emails) and Ricardo Charvel (437 emails) supported Latin American operations.

Asia: Nicholas O’Day (460 emails) handled Japan operations with FCPA oversight from Kean.

Europe: Political contributions and regulatory coordination, with Kean noting the heightened scrutiny Enron attracted compared to other American companies.

Key Correspondents

Steven Kean’s correspondence network reveals his position at the center of Enron’s government affairs apparatus and executive leadership.

The concentration of government affairs professionals among his top contacts confirms his role as the hub of Enron’s political and regulatory strategy.

Email Activity

Steven Kean’s email volume patterns document the rhythm of his work and the impact of major events on his responsibilities.

The dramatic decline in August 2001, from over 3,000 emails in July to 884 in August, coincides precisely with CEO Jeff Skilling’s resignation on August 14, 2001.

Crisis Period and Final Months

Post-Skilling Resignation

Following Jeff Skilling’s abrupt resignation in August 2001, Ken Lay returned as CEO and identified Steven Kean as one of the senior management members to whom employees could bring concerns, alongside Cindy Olson and others. This indication from an all-employee meeting confirms Kean remained in senior leadership during the final months before Enron’s collapse.

Three days after Skilling’s resignation, Kean reportedly sent an email to Ken Lay suggesting Enron should “focus on doing business rather than managing financial statements.” This email has been referenced in secondary sources but was not located in Kean’s own archive during research, suggesting it may exist in other executives’ mailboxes.

Working with Leadership

As late as June 2001, Kean worked directly with Jeff Skilling on California public policy matters. An external consultant, Kevin Scott, addressed both executives jointly: “Jeff and Steve - As you requested, I have prepared a list of my preferred public policy contacts for California.” Kean followed up in July 2001, noting: “I kept your contact list, but now I can’t find the CV you sent. Would you mind resending?”

Decline in Activity

Kean’s email activity dropped sharply after August 2001 and remained minimal through the company’s bankruptcy filing in December 2001 and into 2002. An unusual spike to 30,064 emails in November 2002 likely represents archive migration activities or bulk forwarding during bankruptcy proceedings rather than normal work activity.

Signature Terms Analysis

Volume-adjusted signature term analysis identifies the topics where an individual is disproportionately represented compared to their email volume. For Steven Kean, this analysis reveals his unique specializations within the Enron corpus:

Rank 1 (Highest Owner in Entire Corpus):

• privatization (1.15) - Energy market privatization policy
• shortage (1.15) - Energy supply issues
• deregulated (1.15) - Deregulation policy
• govt (1.15) - Government relations
• opposition (1.12) - Political opposition
• briefing (0.87) - Political intelligence
• senator (0.72) - Congressional relations
• political (0.67) - Political strategy

Rank 2-3 (Top Three Owners):

• residents (1.13) - Community/constituent relations
• spikes (1.13) - Price spike issues
• transredes (1.12) - South American pipeline project

This analysis confirms Kean as the definitive government relations and political strategy executive in the Enron corpus, with ownership of the key terms that defined the intersection of energy markets and political affairs.

Legal Status

Steven Kean is referenced in Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs hearings on the collapse of Enron Corporation (2002), appearing in testimony by other witnesses and in exhibits. Research did not locate records of direct testimony by Kean at congressional hearings or evidence of criminal charges filed against him in connection with Enron’s collapse.

See Also

• Jeff Dasovich - California regulatory specialist who reported to Kean
• Richard Shapiro - Vice President of Regulatory Affairs
• James D. Steffes - Vice President of Government Affairs
• California Energy Crisis - Major focus of Kean’s work 2000-2001
• Dabhol Power Project - International project Kean monitored
• FERC Regulatory Strategy - Federal regulatory engagement
• Enron Wind — Renewable energy subsidiary with 234 Kean-related emails on wind projects

References

This article is based on analysis of Steven Kean’s email archive in the Enron corpus, containing 225,633 emails spanning 1998 through November 2002. Secondary source verification includes:

• U.S. Department of Justice Enron Trial Exhibits (organizational chart dated July 31, 2000)
• Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs hearings (2002)
• Enron quarterly earnings conference call transcripts (July 12, 2001)