Linda Perryman Evans

Linda Perryman Evans is President and Chief Executive Officer of The Meadows Foundation, one of the largest private philanthropies in Texas. A Director and Trustee of the Foundation since 1976, Ms. Evans is a great niece of founders, Algur H. and Virginia Meadows.

Prior to her current position, Evans was an active partner in the public relations firm of Stern, Nathan & Perryman and previously, the Executive Director of the Dallas Welcoming Committee, the non-partisan host committee for the 1984 Republican National Convention.

A graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, Evans worked in Washington, DC from 1976 through 1983. She served on President Gerald Ford’s re-election campaign, was an assistant in the development office of the American Enterprise Institute, was assistant to the press secretary for the late Senator John Heinz of Pennsylvania, and from 1980 to 1983, served in the White House Office of Media Relations and Planning for President Ronald Reagan.

Evans serves on the executive board of the Meadows School of the Arts at SMU and on the advisory board of the Meadows Museum.

She is a founding board member of the Philanthropic Collaborative in Washington, DC, a board and finance committee member of Council on Foundations, board member and chair of the finance and audit committee of National Center for Family Philanthropy, and current trustee of the Wilson Foundation. Evans also serves on the boards of Passion for Children’s, Inc., Amegy Bank, and the advisory boards of the RGK Center for Philanthropy and Community Service. Former member of International Women’s Forum, past chair of Equest and a member of the Dallas Assembly, Charter 100, and Crystal Charity Ball. In addition, she is a member of the Chairman’s Circle of the Dallas Summer Musicals.

She has served on the boards of Grantmakers in Health and the Conference of Southwest Foundations, where she is a past president, chaired the 2002 Conference Site Selection Committee, and served as Program Chair of the 1999 conference. She is a past chair of the Mid-America Foundations Task Force on Standards and Accountability, served on the Independent Sector's Panel on the Nonprofit Sector to advise the Senate Finance Committee, and the Effectiveness and Accountability Task Force for the Forum of Regional Association of Grantmakers.

Evans is a recipient of the Faith & Philanthropy Institute - Women Leading Greater Good 2013 Award, was named in the 2010 Nonprofit Times list of the Top 50 Power and Influence Leaders in the Nonprofit Community. In 2008, she was named by the YWCA as one of the 100 Outstanding Women of Dallas and honored in 2007 with the TACA Silver Cup for her support of the Arts in Dallas. She received the St. Philip’s School and Community Center Unsung Hero award. Evans is a recipient of the 2004 Dallas Alumni Pi Beta Phi Carolyn Helman Lichtenberg Crest Award, the 2003 Leadership Dallas Distinguished Alumni Award, and the 2002 Prism Award from the Greater Dallas Mental Health Association. In 2002, she received the Encomienda de la Orden de Isabel La Catholica for her work on behalf of enhancing relations between Spain and the United States. Sanctioned by King Juan Carlos I and bestowed by the Spanish Ambassador, the award is one of Spain’s highest honors.

Evans is an alumnus of Leadership Dallas and Leadership Texas. She is past chair of the the Crystal Charity Ball Endowment Fund, served on the advisory board of the Mental Health Association of Greater Dallas. Former board positions include the YMCA and YWCA of Dallas, Dallas Museum of Natural History, corporate committee of the Dallas Museum of Art, Texas Business Hall of Fame Foundation, Dallas Theater Center, and Leukemia Women’s Guild. She also is a former member of the Cattle Baron’s Ball Committee and a sustaining member of the Dallas Junior League.