ConocoPhillips White House Lecture Series - 12/1/2003
Donald L. Evans
Don Evans is the 34th Secretary to lead the U.S. Department of Commerce. He oversees a diverse Cabinet agency of 40,000 workers and a $5 billion budget focused on promoting and advocating for American business, both at home and abroad. His Department also gathers vast quantities of economic and demographic data, issues patents and trademarks, helps set industrial standards, forecasts the weather, researches the oceans and oversees telecommunications policy. He is a key member of President Bush’s economic team, advising the President on many issues, including trade, business concerns, energy policy and overall U.S. economic policy
Secretary Evans has an aggressive agenda to get the job done. At the top of the list is trade. He worked closely with Congress to secure Trade Promotion Authority for the President so America can be a leader in the global marketplace. Since taking office, he has visited 21 countries and led trade missions to Russia, China, Mexico, Africa and South America to promote American exports and to open markets. In October 2003, Secretary Evans traveled to Iraq and Afghanistan to explore opportunities for commercial partnerships that will generate economic growth and development and help secure peace and freedom for the people there. He found the universities and technical institutes open, and the country producing more electricity than before the war. On the streets of both Baghdad and Kabul, he saw the entrepreneurial spirit flourishing. He returned optimistic about a future prosperous and free Iraq and Afghanistan.
In 1975, Secretary Evans moved to Midland, Texas, from Houston and was a “roughneck” on an oil rig for Tom Brown, Inc, a large independent energy company. Ten years later, he took the helm of the company as CEO and continued leading it until he was tapped by the President to lead the Commerce Department.
Secretary Evans is a self-described optimist who believes the highest calling in life is serving others. As a result, he has been very active in community service over the years. In 1995, he was appointed by Governor Bush to the Board of Regents of the University of Texas; he was elected Chairman of the Board in February 1997 and served two consecutive terms. He was a board member of the Scleroderma Research Foundation for eight years and a driving force behind Native Vision, a program that provides services to about 10,000 Native American children. He has been involved with the United Way for many years, serving as President in 1989 and Campaign Chair in 1981. He has been named Jaycees Man of the Year.
Secretary Evans has made significant contributions in local and national politics over the past 25 years, having worked on behalf of Governor Bush’s successful gubernatorial campaigns in 1994 and 1998, and serving as Chairman of the Bush/Cheney 2000 campaign. Secretary Evans says his passions in life are family and his friends. He is married to Susan Marinis Evans. They have two daughters, a son and a granddaughter.