Stanley Pigman, PE, 2023 Mining Engineering Foundation Distinguished Alumnus
After receiving a Bachelor of Science in Mining Engineering in 1981, Stanley Pigman, P.E. began his career as a project engineer with the Sierra Coal Company, a subsidiary of GE. In 1983, he became a market analyst with the Old Ben Coal Company, a subsidiary of British Petroleum and part of Peabody Coal, the largest coal company in the world. He then joined Pyro Mining Company as manager of marketing and was later named director of marketing. In 1992, he joined the newly formed Sugar Camp Coal as vice president of sales. In 1997, he and two business associates partnered with Black Beauty Coal Company, where he became director of marketing in March 2000. Stanley managed Black Beauty’s extensive assets in Illinois by introducing expanded coal production.
In June 2001, Stanley’s entrepreneurial spirit took over and he formed his own company, Pigman Coal Sales, providing sales services to an independently owned start-up company for a new greenfield mining project in western Kentucky. Since selling that company in 2004, he created three additional companies that owned and leased coal properties – Mackey Development, Delaware Resources and Buck Creek. These companies provided exploration, engineering and permitting services to sites totaling more than 50,000 acres containing more than 400 million tons of coal.
Stanley received a scholarship to attend UK and credits his success to that support. He believes in providing a foundation for those who dream of a college education. As a result, Stanley and his wife Karen have developed the Stanley and Karen Pigman Engineering Scholarship, the Stanley and Karen Engineering Technology Scholarship, and the Stanley and Karen Pigman First Generation Scholarship programs. Without question, they are UK’s most engaged scholarship student supporters as mentors, career counselors, and cheerleaders.
Stanley sits on the UK College of Engineering Dean’s Advisory Council, the Mining Engineering Foundation, the President’s Capital Campaign Committee, and the UK College of Engineering Capital Campaign Committee. He was inducted into the UK College of Engineering Hall of Distinction in 2009, the UK Hall of Distinguished Alumni in 2020, and was awarded the University of Kentucky Honorary Degree of Humane Letters in 2017.
Stanley and Karen reside in Wilmington, North Carolina.