Anne Evans, who made her mark in the tire import-export business, has been involved with the U.S. Commerce Department's Commercial Service for many years, assisting the agency in helping Connecticut businesses with their plans to go global.
So when the department's job of district director for Connecticut became open, it was logical she would be asked to fill it.
``I started my career in public service, and now I've come back to it,'' Ms. Evans said regarding her new job, which became official Jan. 28. ``I'm working in the same building on the same street as I was 35 years ago.''
That building is the U.S. Export Assistance Center in Middletown, where Ms. Evans now leads a team of trade specialists who will assist Connecticut companies in developing their own export strategies and increase their global market presence. Ms. Evans and her office will provide trade counseling, market research, organized trade events and other services to Connecticut businesses, which in 2007 did $12.2 billion in export sales.
``More than 70 percent of the world's purchasing power is outside of the United States, and Connecticut businesses looking to sell globally will benefit from Ms. Evans' wealth of international business experience,'' said James M. Cox, director of the Commercial Service's Northeast Network, in a press release at the time of Ms. Evans' appointment.
Ms. Evans began her career as an aide to a member of Congress, but a family emergency brought her back, in 1978, to work in her family's tire import-export business. In the 1980s and 1990s, she lived in Wolverhampton, England, where she developed and operated the world's largest tire-derived-fuel power plant in the world.
Back in the U.S. in the mid-1990s, Ms. Evans founded two companies: EER Ltd., an environmental services company, and TYRES 2000 Ltd., which exported U.S. tires to various world markets.
Among many honors, Ms. Evans has been secretary and president of the Connecticut Small Business Federation; received the 2003 Pioneer Award from the Tire Industry Association (TIA) for her efforts in scrap tire recycling; and won the Metro Hartford Chamber of Commerce's International Business Leader of the Year award in 2000. Ms. Evans also founded TIA's Global Council in 2003, and served as its chair until 2006.