Churchill Names Evans to Succeed Meeker as President, CEO

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Edited Churchill Downs release
The board of directors of Churchill Downs Inc. announced Wednesday that Robert L. Evans, a horse owner and breeder who has a background in technology, manufacturing and private equity capital, will succeed Tom Meeker as company president and chief executive officer. The announcement was made by CDI Chairman Carl F. Pollard.

Meeker served as the company's top executive for 22 years. Evans will officially assume his new position Aug. 14, at which time Meeker will resign as president and chief executive officer and step down from the company's board of directors. Meeker will continue to serve in an advisory role through the end of his employment contract in March 2007. Evans will assume Meeker's place on the CDI board.

Over his 31-year career, Evans has held senior executive positions at Caterpillar, Mazda Motor of America, and Accenture. More recently, Evans held top leadership positions at international technology and private equity capital companies, including Symphony Technology Group. Evans is also involved in the Thoroughbred industry as president and founder of Tenlane Farm, a 260-acre commercial breeding operation in Woodford County, Ky. He has owned, bred, and raced Thoroughbreds for more than two decades.

In announcing the appointment, Pollard said the board of directors believes Evans possesses the right combination of leadership skills, business savvy, versatility, and passion for the sport of horse racing to successfully lead CDI. "Bob has an impressive, results-driven record of growing revenues, increasing operating efficiencies, developing management teams, and using technology to deliver new products and services to customers," said Pollard. "He has created growth initiatives in several large companies and has worked with numerous start-up businesses. He is a skilled business strategist who has improved the performance of both large and small companies with which he has been affiliated.

"Throughout his career, Bob has successfully worked in the very areas where CDI is currently focused: developing international markets, offering enhanced customer service and deploying technology solutions. Bob understands how to use technology to enable and transform a business while increasing shareholder value. Additionally, he is a great team builder who is adept at identifying, cultivating and upgrading human capital within organizations. He has demonstrated creativity and flexibility in his management style and brings a fresh perspective to our company and our industry. We are delighted to have him take the reins at this important time in CDI's history."

"It is a tremendous honor to be chosen to lead the nation's premier horse racing company," said Evans, "and I want to thank chairman Pollard and the CDI board of directors for this fantastic opportunity. Under Tom Meeker's leadership, Churchill Downs has grown from a single Kentucky-based racetrack to a half-billion dollar company with the strongest brand in the industry. I want to build on that foundation. I look forward to this new professional challenge and the responsibility that comes with it.

"The horse racing industry faces many of the same challenges and holds many of the same business opportunities that I have encountered in previous leadership roles," Evans continued. "Ultimately, we must find innovative, new ways to engage and serve customers; we must think globally to expand our market opportunities; and we must make decisions and execute at much faster speeds than in the past. CDI has already proven that it can be independently successful. But there are tremendous opportunities to leverage our company's success with the success of other companies and organizations inside and outside the Thoroughbred industry. I am eager to listen and learn, and I hope I can bring some new ideas to the table.

"I have been involved in horse racing since I was a teenager, when my father owned and raced horses in Kentucky and Ohio. My brother, Tom Evans, has operated Trackside Farm in Versailles, Ky., for more than 20 years and is well known in the industry. To lead the company that is host to world-renowned events such as the Kentucky Derby, Arlington Million and numerous Breeders' Cup World Championships, including the Cup's 23rd renewal this November at Churchill Downs, is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and a real privilege for a lifelong horse racing fan."

Prior to moving to Kentucky at the end of 2003, Evans worked in Palo Alto, Calif., where he served as managing director and was a co-founder of Symphony Technology Group, a strategic holding company that invests in software and services companies. At STG, Evans led investments in and served on the boards of many portfolio companies, recruited and built management teams, and redefined and implemented new business and marketing strategies. STG was founded in 2002, and today companies for which STG has provided investment capital and strategic guidance have more than $1.2 billion in combined revenue and approximately 7,000 employees worldwide.

Evans has also held the following leadership positions: president and chief operating officer of Aspect Development; managing partner of the Americas Supply Chain Practice for Accenture; vice president of customer support for Mazda Motor of America; and founder and president of Caterpillar Logistics Services.

Evans serves as a board member for Aftermarket Technology, and Tumri, a privately held Internet advertising company. The 53-year-old native of Cincinnati, Ohio, holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from MacMurray College, and a Master of Arts degree in quantitative economics from Western Illinois University.

As part of the employment relationship, the company has awarded Evans a stock option, vesting over three years, to purchase 130,000 shares of the company with an exercise price equal to the fair market value of a share of the company's stock on the date of grant; 65,000 restricted stock units, vesting over five years; and 155,000 shares of restricted stock, with 90,000 shares to vest upon certain closing prices of the company's stock and 65,000 shares to vest over five years contingent upon a certain closing price of the company's stock.

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