Churchill names Evans as President, CEO

Churchill Downs Inc. has named Robert S. Evans, a former senior executive at a variety of manufacturing and private-equity companies, to replace Tom Meeker as its president and chief executive, the company announced on Wednesday.

Evans, 53, who has owned and bred Thoroughbreds for 20 years, according to a statement released by Churchill, will start in his new positions on Aug. 14. Meeker will resign on that date, but continue to serve in an "advisory role" through the end of his employment contract in March of 2007, Churchill said.

According to a resume supplied by Churchill, Evans was most recently the co-founder and managing director of the Symphony Technology Group, a private equity firm based in Palo Alto, California, and the managing partner of the Valent Group, another private-equity firm based in Redwood City, Calif.

Prior to those positions, Evans was a managing partner at Andersen Consulting, a vice president for customer support at Mazda Motor of America, and the founder and president of Caterpillar Logistics Services, Inc. From 1975 to 1986, he held a variety of positions at Caterpillar.

A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, Evans received a bachelor's degree in economics from MacMurrray College and a master's degree in quantitative economics from Western Illinois University. Evans moved to Kentucky in 2003 and has served since then as president and founder of Tenlane Farm, a Thoroughbred breeding operation in Woodford County, Ky.