Mr. Cannon is Editor of the Deseret News in Salt Lake City, Utah.  He is a former partner of the Washington, DC law firm of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, LLP, where he represented some of the largest energy companies in the United States.  He is also the former Chairman of the Republican Party for the State of Utah. 

 

From 1987-2001, Mr. Cannon was Chairman and CEO of Geneva Steel, where he was responsible for transforming Geneva into the most modern and environmentally sound steel mill in the nation.  His efforts to balance environmentalism and industry were recognized when the Environmental Protection Agency honored Geneva Steel with its Outstanding Achievement Award in 1991 for its commitment to the environment.  Mr. Cannon was named Entrepreneur of the Year 1987 by Utah Business Digest and Businessman of the Year 1988 by the Utah Manufacturers Association. 

 

From 1985-87, he was a partner at the Washington, DC office of San Francisco's Pillsbury, Madison & Sutro (now Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, LLP) in the firm's environmental law practice.  He rejoined the Pillsbury law firm after a 2002 campaign for the U.S. Senate.

 

In 1981, he was appointed by President Ronald Reagan as Associate Administrator for Policy and Resource Management at the Environmental Protection Agency where he served for two years.  In this position, he played a central role in the development of the agency's rules tightening the standards for lead in gasoline and in expanding EPA's emissions trading policy.  He was later confirmed by the U.S. Senate as Assistant Administrator for Air and Radiation.  His duties involved implementation and enforcement of the national air policy mandated by the Clean Air Act and the regulation of fine particulate matter in the atmosphere.  He also had a significant role in the agency's research on global warming.

 

Mr. Cannon received his B.A. degree in political science, and in 1977 graduated cum laude from BYU's law school, where he was an editor of the law review.  He served as a law clerk in Salt Lake City for Judge Aldon J. Anderson before accepting positions with the Washington, DC law office of Philadelphia's Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, and later with Andrews and Kurth, also located in Washington, DC.

 

Mr. Cannon has served as a member of the Board of Trustees of the American Enterprise Institute; member of the Administrative Conference of the United States; member of the Board of Trustees of the Salt Lake Olympic Organizing Committee; Chairman of the American Bar Association, Natural Resources Law Section, Air Quality Committee; Vice Chairman of the Committee of Interagency Radiation Research and Policy Coordination; United States Representative to the Environment Committee, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development; and member of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council and capital campaign committee.