Gail Hirschorn Evans (born 17 December 1941) is an American author, lecturer, and business executive. She is known for being the highest ranking female executive at Cable News Network[1] and for her two books, Play Like a Man, Win Like a Woman and She Wins, You Win.

Gail Evans
Born
Gail Hirschorn

(1941-12-17) December 17, 1941 (age 82)
New York City
NationalityAmerican
Alma materBennington College
Occupation(s)Lecturer, author, journalist
Known forAuthor, senior executive at CNN
SpouseRobert Evans (div. 2000)
Children3

Early life

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Evans was born on 17 December 1941 and received a bachelor's degree from Bennington College. Her first job was at the office of The Honorable William Fitts Ryan (D-NY). She later served as legislative and executive assistant to Sen. Harrison Arlington Williams of New Jersey. During the Johnson administration she served in Office of the Special Counsel to the President where she worked on the creation of the Presidents Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity and the 1965 Civil Rights Act. She later moved to the Import Export Bank when Hobart Taylor became president of the Bank. Lyndon B. Johnson Administration.[2]

Evans began working at CNN at its inception in 1980. By the time she retired in 2001, she was executive vice president of the CNN Newsgroup.[3] During that time she was responsible for program and talent development at all of CNN’s domestic networks overseeing national and international talk shows and the Network Guest Bookings Department,[4] which scheduled about 25,000 guests each year. She is responsible for developing many of CNN’s talk shows including Crossfire, Burden of Proof, Talkback Live, Capital Gang and Crier & Co.[5]

She is credited with helping to discover and guide the careers of Katie Couric[6] and Greta Van Susteren.[7]

Post-CNN Career

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Her book Play Like a Man, Win Like a Woman came out in September, 2001 and reached the top 10 on the New York Times bestseller list and being translated into 21 different languages.[8] Following an appearance on Larry King Live,[9] Evans' book spiked as high as #3 on Amazon.com's bestseller list.[10]

In 2003, Evans wrote a follow-up, She Wins, You Win.[11] Though not as much of a commercial success, the second book got strong reviews. Publishers Weekly described it as, "an aggressive but motivating handbook for women who are serious about career success."[11]

Evans is also a corporate speaker and consultant on women in the workplace, giving lectures to AT&T, Johnson & Johnson, GE, Microsoft, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo, KPMG, Cisco, IBM, Thomson Reuters, Deloitte, Intel, and Walmart.[12]

She teaches organizational behavior[13] as it relates to gender, race, and ethnicity at Georgia Tech.[2]

Personal life

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Evans is married to former CBS correspondent Bob Evans for more than 30 years before getting divorced in March 2000.[14] They have 3 children and 7 grandchildren.[citation needed]

References

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  1. ^ "CNN pioneer Gail Evans quitting after 21 years". Houston Chronicle. 6 June 2001. Retrieved 2018-04-03.
  2. ^ a b "Gail Evans". Georgia Tech Scheller College of Business.
  3. ^ "CNN.com - Transcripts". CNN. 4 May 2003.
  4. ^ Bernstein, Paula (15 June 2001). "CNN taps Bondy, shuffles exex".
  5. ^ HALL, JANE (25 September 1992). "CNN Task Force Mulls Programming for Women : Television: Female executives and producers are also looking into the possibility of forming a women's cable network" – via LA Times.
  6. ^ "With Couric, CBS takes a step forward". 4 September 2006.
  7. ^ Gunther, Marc (12 August 1995). "LAYING DOWN THE LAW AT CNN" – via The Washington Post.
  8. ^ Haiyan, Hu (18 June 2013). "A woman opens doors". China Daily. Archived from the original on 4 April 2018.
  9. ^ "CNN Transcript - Larry King Live Weekend: What Do Men Know About Success that Women Need to Learn? - April 8, 2000". CNN.
  10. ^ Kloer, Phil (15 August 2011). "CNN pioneer Gail Evans quitting after 21 years". Houston Chronicle.
  11. ^ a b "Nonfiction Book Review: She Wins, You Win: The Most Important Rule Every Businesswoman Needs to Know by Gail Evans". Publishers Weekly. April 2003.
  12. ^ "Gail Evans: Author, Speaker, She Wins You Win, Play Like a Man Win Like A Woman". Gail Evans.
  13. ^ Gray, Emma (12 June 2012). "Queen Bee Syndrome False: Women Help Other Women Advance In The Workplace, Study" – via Huff Post.
  14. ^ Wescott, Gail (22 May 2000). "Breaking the Code". People.