Bob Evans was born in Grand Island, Nebraska, in 1927. He received a BS in engineering from Iowa State University (1951).
Bob Evans started his 33-year career at IBM in 1951 as a junior engineer, supporting IBM's electronic (vacuum tube) computers. He rose quickly through the organization and became vice president of IBM's data systems division in 1962. In this position, he was placed in charge of all development for a daring new family of computers IBM was planning. This family, known as the System/360, was the largest single change of direction in the company's history and Evans was given overall responsibility for all hardware and software of the new machines.
The System/360 was a major win for IBM and remains one of the most successful computer products of all time. It was through Evans' leadership that the project was completed.
In his last seven years at IBM, Evans was corporate vice president, Engineering, Programming and Technology. In 1984 he retired from IBM to join Hambrecht and Quist as a venture partner.
In 1988, he moved to a spinoff from H&Q, Technology Strategies and Alliances, where he served as a managing partner. He passed away in 2004.
