Bennett K Hatfield

Hatfield, resigned in 2015 as president and CEO of Patriot Coal, a month before the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for the second time. He was International Coal Group’s CEO when a 2006 explosion at the Sago Mine in northern West Virginia killed 12 miners. Hatfield was named in June 2015 to the board of coal producer Foresight Energy, based in St. Louis. A man from Ohio who fatally shot a former coal company executive at a cemetery where the businessman’s wife is buried has been arrested on a first-degree murder warrant. Most recently, Hatfield served as President and Chief Operating Officer for Patriot Coal. Previously, Ben was President, Chief Executive Officer and Director of International Coal Group, prior to the June 2011 sale of that company. He has held a number of other key executive operating and commercial positions during his 30-plus years in the coal industry, including President, Eastern Operations of Arch Coal, Inc., Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Massey Energy Company, and Executive Vice President & Chief Commercial Officer of Coastal Coal Company. Ben is a Licensed Professional Engineer with a Bachelor of Science degree in mining engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Ben was preceded in death by his wife, Debbie Starr Hatfield, and his father, the Rev. Sonny A. Hatfield. Survivors include his mother, Nola Phillips Hatfield of Inez, Ky.; daughters: Ashley Kay (Watson) Stelly of Richmond, Va., and Lauren Nicole Hatfield of Arlington, Va.; and son, Michael Shawn Lee of Louisville, Ky