Executive Bio

Kenneth L. Lay is chairman of Enron. He was named to that position in February 1986, following the merger of Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth, Inc. in July 1985. Previously, Mr. Lay was president of Continental Resources Company (formerly Florida Gas Company) and executive vice president of the Continental Group, the parent company of Continental Resources Company, before joining Transco Energy Company in May 1981, as president, chief operating officer, and a director. He joined Houston Natural Gas in June 1984 as chairman and chief executive officer. Mr. Lay is also a member of Enron's Executive Committee and Corporate Policy Committee.

A native of Missouri, Mr. Lay was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate in economics from the University of Missouri, where he also received a master's degree in economics. Upon graduation, he began his career in 1965 as a corporate economist with Exxon Company, U.S.A. Subsequently, he earned a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Houston.

Mr. Lay served as an officer in the U.S. Navy, and held the positions of technical assistant to a Commissioner of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and Deputy Undersecretary of the U.S. Department of Interior. Additionally, while in Washington, Mr. Lay was an assistant professor at George Washington University, teaching graduate courses in micro- and macro-economic theory and government-business relations.

Currently, Mr. Lay serves on the Board of Directors of Compaq Computer Corporation, Eli Lilly and Company, i2 Technologies, Inc., Questia Media, Inc. and Trust Company of the West. He is a member of The Business Council and the National Petroleum Council. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of Howard University, Resources for the Future, the H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics, and the Environment, the American Enterprise Institute and the First United Methodist Church in Houston. Mr. Lay was selected to receive the Private Sector Council's 1997 Leadership Award, received the 1998 Horatio Alger Award and was named by Business Week as one of the top 25 Managers in the world for 1999. Mr. Lay is a member of the Texas Business Hall of Fame.

Previous key roles have included serving as chairman of the Greater Houston Partnership and chairman of the University of Houston System Board of Regents. In addition, he served as chairman of the Houston Host Committee for the 1992 Republican National Convention and as co-chairman of the Host Committee for the 1990 Houston Economic Summit of Industrialized Nations.

Enron is one of the world's leading electricity, natural gas and communications companies. The company, with revenues of $101 billion in 2000, markets electricity and natural gas, delivers physical commodities and financial and risk management services to customers around the world, and has developed an intelligent network platform to facilitate online business. Fortune magazine has named Enron "America's Most Innovative Company" for six consecutive years. Enron's Internet address is www.enron.com. The stock is traded under the ticker symbol "ENE."

Date of birth: April 15, 1942