James Coen

Civil engineering ’82

Jim Coen retired in 2021 as executive vice president of MV Purchasing Inc., which provides a variety of midstream services for the petroleum industry, including crude oil aggregation, transportation, storage and quality management.

Coen began his career as an engineer with Exxon in the Permian Basin, where he performed reservoir and facilities design and construction for enhanced oil recovery projects. His next job took him to Wichita to work for Koch Industries as a pipeline engineer before transitioning to crude oil marketing and trading. After 18 years serving in various leadership and management positions with Koch and other midstream petroleum companies, Coen left Koch to assist with the formation of MV Purchasing. The company has since grown from a small regional crude oil purchasing company to a significant midstream participant with assets and operations in seven states and annual revenues exceeding $5 billion.

Coen graduated with honors from K-State in 1982 with bachelor’s degrees in both civil engineering and business management. He has served on the KSU Foundation’s board of trustees and the Carl R. Ice College of Engineering advisory council. Besides endowed scholarships for the Colleges of Engineering and Education, Coen contributed to the construction of the Durland Hall expansion project and is a member of the Ahearn Fund National Leadership Circle. Even after retiring, he continues to serve on the board of directors for MV Purchasing.

Coen’s extended family was honored as K-State’s Family of the Year in 2009. He and his wife, Ann, have three adult daughters – all K-State graduates – and eight grandchildren.