Bruce R. Evans (born c. 1959) is an American venture capitalist, corporate director and philanthropist. He is a former managing director of

Summit Partners Summit Partners is an American private equity firm based in Boston, Massachusetts. The firm focuses on investing in technology, healthcare, life sciences and other growth industries. Background Summit Partners was founded in 1984 by Roe St ...

and the Chairman of the

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...

Board of Trust.

Early life

Bruce R. Evans was born circa 1959 in

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

. He was educated at the Huntington High School in

Huntington, West Virginia Huntington is a city in Cabell and Wayne counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia. It is the county seat of Cabell County, and the largest city in the Huntington–Ashland metropolitan area, sometimes referred to as the Tri-State Area. A h ...

. He graduated from

, where he earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering and economics in 1981. He earned a master's in business administration from the

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA p ...

Career

Evans began his career as a salesman for IBM in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

. Since 1986, he has been at Summit Partners, where he is managing director and chair of the board of managers. Evans served on the boards of directors of

Fleetcor FleetCor Technologies, Inc. is an American company that provides fuel cards and workforce payment products and services. Their customers include businesses, commercial fleets, oil companies, petroleum marketers and government in America, Netherlan ...

from 2002 to 2014. He was also a board member of the National Venture Capital Association. He serves on the board of

Analog Devices Analog Devices, Inc. (ADI), also known simply as Analog, is an American multinational semiconductor company specializing in data conversion, signal processing and power management technology, headquartered in Wilmington, Massachusetts. The co ...

, Casa Systems,

Fuze In military munitions, a fuze (sometimes fuse) is the part of the device that initiates function. In some applications, such as torpedoes, a fuze may be identified by function as the exploder. The relative complexity of even the earliest fuze d ...

, and

Masternaut Masternaut Limited is a telematics company specialising in fleet and asset management. They achieved initial recognition with Martin Port as CEO and subsequently with Martin Hiscox as Chairman were featured as a 2015 UK Government Future 50 Tech ...

Philanthropy

Evans joined the board of trust of his alma mater, Vanderbilt University, in 2009; he succeeded Mark Dalton as its chairman in 2017. He has donated $1 million to the university, and $400,000 to the Harvard Business School. Via the Evans Family Foundation, Evans has also made charitable contributions to

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifie ...

Bowdoin College Bowdoin College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Brunswick, Maine. When Bowdoin was chartered in 1794, Maine was still a part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The college offers 34 majors and 36 minors, as well as several joint eng ...

Miami University Miami University (informally Miami of Ohio or simply Miami) is a public research university in Oxford, Ohio. The university was founded in 1809, making it the second-oldest university in Ohio (behind Ohio University, founded in 1804) and the 10 ...

, and the

Roxbury Latin School The Roxbury Latin School is a private boys' day school that was founded in 1645 in the town of Roxbury (now a neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts) by the Rev. John Eliot under a charter received from King Charles I of England. It bills ...

. In 2018, Evans and his wife Bridgitt, announced they are committing $20 million to help support Vanderbilt University initiatives focused on the undergraduate living-learning experience, as well as leadership positions in the School of Engineering.

Personal life

Evans is married to Bridgitt Bertram, an HBS alumna and contemporary art collector. They have four children. They reside in Boston, and they own another property in

Telluride, Colorado Telluride is the county seat and most populous town of San Miguel County in the southwestern portion of the U.S. state of Colorado. The town is a former silver mining camp on the San Miguel River in the western San Juan Mountains. The first ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Evans, Bruce R. Living people Businesspeople from West Virginia Businesspeople from Boston People from Telluride, Colorado Vanderbilt University alumni Harvard Business School alumni American corporate directors American philanthropists Year of birth missing (living people) Huntington High School (West Virginia) alumni Philanthropists from West Virginia