Kandi Hughes

Commissioner

Commissioner Kandi Hughes is Managing Sr. Corporate Counsel at Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO). MISO, headquartered in Indiana, is an independent, not-for-profit, member-based organization that manages the generation and transmission of high-voltage electricity across 15 U.S. states and the Canadian province of Manitoba.

Commissioner Hughes holds a Juris Doctor from UA Little Rock’s William H. Bowen School of Law, an MBA from the University of Central Arkansas, and a Bachelor of Arts in Public Policy from Duke University. She also serves as an adjunct faculty member at UA Little Rock’s William H. Bowen School of Law, teaching courses in Lawyering Skills and Advanced Legal Writing: Contract Drafting.

Throughout her diverse legal career, Commissioner Hughes has held critical attorney roles at the University of Central Arkansas, the City of Little Rock, and Southwest Power Pool, focusing on corporate governance, human resources, and transactional matters. Actively engaged in industry organizations, she currently presides as president of Arkansas Women in Power, president of the Arkansas Chapter of the American Association of Blacks in Energy and is a member of Corporate Counsel Women of Color, the American Water Works Association, and the National Black MBA Association.

Committed to public service, Commissioner Hughes contributes her leadership skills to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights’ Arkansas Advisory Committee, is a graduate of the Arkansas Bar Association’s Public Service Academy, a Sustainer Star in the Junior League of Little Rock, and has been an active member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated for almost 25 years. She is a former board member of the Oscar Washington Jr. Educational Fund, the Tendaji CDC Board of Directors, and the Arkansas Foodbank. Dedicated to honing her leadership skills, Commissioner Hughes is a graduate of the Arkansas Bar Association’s Leadership Academy and a graduate of Leadership Greater Little Rock Class XXXI.

Commissioner Hughes has been named a 40 Under 40 honoree and a Women to Watch honoree by Little Rock Soirée. She is the recipient of the Irma Hunter Brown Women’s Leadership Award from the Arkansas Democratic Black Caucus and the Little Rock Regional Chamber’s Outstanding Young Professional of the Year. Commissioner Hughes continues to be acknowledged for her innumerable contributions. In 2024, Arkansas Money & Politics named Commissioner Hughes one of 12 Trailblazing Women, a group of Arkansas’s leading women in business.

Commissioner Hughes resides in Little Rock and is a Little Rock representative on the CAW Board.