Robert Evanson
Professor Evanson is a veteran executive with a strong background in finance who has been at the helm of some of the largest content companies in the country. Since retirement in 2003, he has been, until 2008, a Senior Advisor to Apax Partners, Inc., a $31 billion private equity co. He retired in 2003 as the President of McGraw-Hill Education, a $2.5 billion global publishing unit. Prior to that, Professor Evanson served as president, Higher Education and Consumer Group and Executive Vice President, Corporate Development, for The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Professor Evanson joined the Macmillan/McGraw-Hill School Publishing Company as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer in 1992. Before joining McGraw-Hill, Professor Evanson held various posts at Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc. from 1985 – 1992, including Chief Financial Officer of the corporation, Chief Operating Officer, and Chairman and CEO of Sea World Theme Parks. Prior to that he held senior financial positions at Harper & Row, Consolidated Rail Corporation, and Amtrak, and was a partner at Arthur Andersen & Co.
During the course of his career, Professor Evanson led a number of key acquisitions, including Tribune Education; CBS Publishing Division; Times Mirror Higher Education; and Appleton and Lange. Mr. Evanson also led numerous divestitures, among them Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc.; the Sea World Theme Park Group; Shepard’s McGraw-Hill; McGraw-Hill School Systems; McGraw-Hill Lifetime Learning; and SRA Technology Training. While at McGraw Hill, Professor Evanson oversaw the start-ups of McGraw-Hill Home Interactive, McGraw-Hill Lifetime Learning, McGraw-Hill Professional Development and McGraw-Hill Digital Learning. He also served on the Board of Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc.; the Association of American Publishers (Chairman); Cadmus Communications Corp; The Princeton Review, a NASDAQ-listed testing and assessment provider; and National Executive Service Corps. (NESC). Professor Evanson currently serves on the Board of Pace University’s Publishing Board of Advisors and Faculty; Western Governors University, the nation’s leading competency- based university; The NY Institute of Technology; Rose Financial Services; and John Hopkins University Press. He is a retired CPA, holds an MBA from New York Institute of Technology and a BBA in Accounting from St. John’s University.