Commissioner David E. Klement

David E. Klement was appointed to the Florida Public Service Commission (PSC) by Governor Charlie Crist for a four-year term beginning January 2010. He joined the PSC in October 2009, when Governor Crist selected him to fill a Commissioner vacancy.

Prior to his appointment, Commissioner Klement served as Director of the Institute for Public Policy & Leadership at the University of South Florida, where he created forums to address community needs, anticipated future challenges and the strategies to tackle them, and engaged students in leadership and civic opportunities.

Commissioner Klement worked as a journalist for more than four decades, most recently serving as editorial page editor at The Bradenton Herald. In this capacity, he formulated editorial policy for the daily newspaper and authored editorials as well as regular personal columns. He formerly held the business editor and city editor positions at the Herald, which involved convening and moderating town hall meetings and creating public affairs programs on government access television. The Commissioner was also an editor and reporter at The Detroit Free Press and The Daily Oklahoman in Oklahoma City.

He has received honors from the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association, the Society of Professional Journalists, and the Florida Press Association for his editorial writing. Commissioner Klement also shared the prestigious Pulitzer Prize with the newsroom staff of The Detroit Free Press in 1968 for coverage of the Detroit riots in 1967.