Denver-based coal processor KFx Inc. has hired veteran Colorado energy executive Mark Sexton as chief executive.
Sexton headed Evergreen Resources, Colorado’s top producer of coal-bed methane, until it was acquired by Dallas- based Pioneer Natural Resources last year in a $1.7 billion deal.
Ted Venners, KFx’s chairman and CEO since its inception 21 years ago, will continue with the company as chairman and chief technology officer. Robert Hanfling will remain as president and chief operating officer.
Sexton served on the KFx board from 1999 to 2004.
KFx’s patented technology converts dirty, low-quality coal to clean, energy-rich “K-Fuel” by squeezing and cooking moisture and pollutants out of it.
“The opportunity to again lead a company transitioning from a technology company to an energy-production company, with the prospects that KFx has, was something that I wanted to be a part of,” Sexton said.
Also Wednesday, KFx said it plans to build a new K-Fuel plant in Wyoming’s Powder River Basin, and said it has an agreement to test K-Fuel at the Neil Simpson I Power Plant in Gillette, Wyo.
Staff writer Steve Raabe can be reached at 303-820-1948 or sraabe@denverpost.com.
