Ron Coker, PE

Senior Vice President
Water General Manager
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Ron Coker is a champion of people and communities and a trusted, accomplished leader of large-scale capital programs. With the unique ability of designing and building impactful teams and solutions, he’s helping shape a strong future for the water industry.

As general manager of the Water Group, Ron leads a robust team with deep, diverse experience helping the industry manage vulnerabilities and addressing ever-changing community needs with water treatment, supply and systems solutions. Throughout his career, he has successfully managed some of the largest water and wastewater capital programs in the central U.S. He has served as program manager and now program director for Kansas City, Missouri’s $4.5 billion Smart Sewer Program, program director for Shreveport, Louisiana’s $1.3 billion Clean Water Shreveport Program, and project director for the Northwest Wichita Water Facility project in Kansas. Ron also led Kansas City’s $1.5 billion capital program as part of the City’s Capital Improvements Management Office, a U.S. Conference of Mayors award-winning public-private partnership.

In the community:

Ron dedicates much of his time serving his local community. He supports organizations including:

  • United Way of Greater Kansas City, board chair
  • Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, board member
  • Downtown Council of Kansas City, former board member and board chair
  • Ronald McDonald House Charities of Kansas City, former board member, Wylie House fundraising campaign leader
  • Missouri State Chamber of Commerce, former board member
  • Hawthorn Foundation, Former Board Member
  • Tulsa Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, former board member
  • Oklahoma Academy for State Goals, former board member
What’s something most people don’t know about you?

I played college football at Oklahoma State University with two future NFL Hall of Fame inductees, Thurman Thomas and Barry Sanders. I also bleed orange!

What excites you most when you look at the future of infrastructure and the water industry?

There is so much to do! Water and wastewater infrastructure has been so effective in working long past its design life that communities have simply not put in place the revenue streams to address all that needs to be done. In the next 25 years, I think we will not only see the need for massive investment but also find creative ways for communities to invest in developing sustainable water and wastewater utilities.

How do you and your team make the world a better place?

Almost everything we do in the water industry is centered around improving quality-of-life issues. What's harder but makes just as much impact is our effort to develop water opportunities for our disadvantaged business partners. Creating quality of life is important; creating it so that everyone can enjoy it equally takes it to a whole new level.