Gary Evans

Gary Evans

Senior Consultant, Former President and CEO
Hiawatha Broadband Communications

Gary W. Evans, president and CEO of Hiawatha Broadband Communications, joined the company in April of 1998.

One of two people who performed the feasibility study in 1992 that led to the creation of Luminet (HBC’s predecessor), Evans is a long-time resident of the Winona community.

He served as Winona State University’s vice president of university relations from 1987 until 1998 and previously spent 30 years in the newspaper business, including 25 years at the Winona Daily News. During his Winona newspaper career, Evans served as a reporter, section editor, editor, executive editor, marketing director, and publisher.

A community activist, Evans has received Winona’s highest awards, the Winona Community Achievement Award in 1987 and the Adith Miller Community Tribute in 1990. He was also honored in 2001 as Minnesota Hospital Trustee of the Year, and on November 12, 2004, was honored by the Upper Mississippi Valley Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals as its outstanding volunteer fundraiser. In 2008, he received Winona State University’s Distinguished Service Award.

He serves as chairman of the board of Winona Health, the community’s health care system, as chairman of the board of the Great River Shakespeare Festival, is a member of the Blandin Foundation’s Broadband Strategy Board, the Minnesota Governor’s Broadband Task Force, is a past president of the Winona Area Chamber of Commerce, and has held numerous community civic and church positions.

Evans is married. He and his wife, Ellen, are the parents of two children: Gregory, president of Merchants National Bank, Cannon Falls, MN; and Natalie Evans Matejka, a customer planner for TRW, Winona.