RICHFIELD, Conn. - Robert R. Evans, who retired in May as Xerox Corp.'s assistant treasurer-international pensions, has set up his own investment consulting firm, Evans Associates.
Through his new firm, Mr. Evans aims to assist institutional investors, particularly college, university and charitable endowments and Taft-Hartley plans, with their investment strategy.
He said he finds working in these areas "personally gratifying."
He also will be helping money managers establish "a more efficient decision-making process for investing or for structuring their marketing presentations."
Already the firm has four clients, including endowments and investment management firms, which he declined to name.
Mr. Evans said he expects the firm to remain small and envisions, "at any given time," having between two and six clients. Evans Associates currently operates out of Mr. Evans' home in Richfield.
The 25-year veteran of the pension industry believes he has much knowledge to contribute. He spent the past 17 years in the pension department at Xerox Corp., Stamford, Conn. For the prior eight years, he had managed the pension assets of J.C. Penney Co. in New York.
At Xerox, Mr. Evans was in charge of pension investments from 1977 until the end of 1992. During his tenure there, the pension staff expanded from one to five people; pension assets, now totaling $5.5 billion, also swelled, from $390 million in 1977, partly because of good investment performance.
From April 1978 through March 1994, "the fund's performance ranked comfortably in the top 10%" of the pension fund universe of SEI Corp., Mr. Evans reported.
From late 1992 until his retirement, Mr. Evans worked with Xerox's non-U.S. pension plans on investment-management related issues. At the end of 1992, Myra Drucker, who had spent the previous five years at International Paper Co., returned to Xerox to assume Mr. Evans' former position. A Xerox employee said Ms. Drucker has absorbed Mr. Evans' former duties; Ms. Drucker could not be reached for comment.
