Lawrence B. Evans has served as Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Rive Technology since 2005. Rive is an early stage company commercializing advanced catalyst technology for clean energy applications. Previously, he founded Aspen Technology in 1981 and served as chairman and chief executive officer until 2002. During this time the company grew from a start-up to become the leading provider of software and solutions to the chemical process manufacturing industries. He was professor of chemical engineering at MIT from 1962 to 1990, where he was well known for his work in computer-aided process design and process control. He served as President in 2007 of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE).
Evans has received numerous awards. In 1982 the Computing and Systems Technology Division of AIChE awarded its Computing in Chemical Engineering Award to him. In 1997 he was named Entrepreneur of the Year for high technology in the New England region. In 1999 FORTUNE magazine named him one of seven US. Heroes of Manufacturing. That same year he received the University Of Michigan College of Engineering’s Alumni Society Merit Award from the Department of Chemical Engineering.
In 2001, Evans was elected to the National Academy of Engineering. Chemical Engineering magazine chose him for the 2002 Award for Personal Achievement in Chemical Engineering. In 2003 he was elected a member of the University Of Oklahoma College Of Engineering Distinguished Graduates Society and he received the Engineering Achievement Award from the Engineering Construction Contracting Association. He is a Fellow of the AIChE.
Evans holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Oklahoma. He earned a master’s degree and a doctorate in chemical engineering from the University of Michigan.