Sarah Evans, Founder & CEO at Well Beyond

Sarah Evans, Founder & CEO at Well Beyond

About

Sarah Evans is the founder and Chairperson of Well Aware, an Austin-based nonprofit that funds and implements clean water systems for impoverished communities in Africa. Well Aware is known for its sustainability model in building lasting water systems with high impact.

Evans is also founder and CEO of Well Beyond, an international company that advises organizations on water development efforts, and oversees water project execution. Well Beyond has also developed software to improve the water aid sector.

Evans is also a Toyota Mother of Invention, a member of the Forbes Nonprofit Council, the Truman National Security Project, the Advisory Board for the St. Edwards Sustainable Development Program, the Austin Network for International Impact Professionals, the Rural Water Supply Network, and is a mentor for the Washington Mandela Fellowship Program. She was chosen to take part in the highly selective Entrepreneurs Organization Program. She is also an eTown achievement award recipient, a Texas Women’s Chamber of Commerce Blazing Star Award recipient, an Austin Business Journal Profiles in Power, and has been featured in The New York Times, Forbes, People.com, Parent Magazine, MariaShriver.com, USA Today, and The Chronicle of Philanthropy, among other media. She is a contributing author for Forbes, MariaShriver.com, Wandering Educator, and The Austin Business Journal.

Under her leadership, Well Aware and Well Beyond have impacted more than a quarter of a million people, and the organization’s reputation for project success (100%) and cost-effectiveness (averaging $10 per person for decades) has prompted numerous collaborations with other NGO’s worldwide to guide their water infrastructure projects.

Evans spent the first years of her life living off the grid in rural Australia before moving to a small town in east Texas. Her awareness of—and compassion for—the diverse world around her began to take shape at an early age.

After graduating with honors from the University of Texas at Austin with a communications degree, she attended law school at Southern Methodist University, where she focused on environmental law. Awarded an externship with the Environmental Protection Agency's clean water department, Evans also became president of the SMU Environmental Law Society and served as chief editor of the law school's news periodical.

After positions in lobbying and securities law with respected Texas-based firms, Evans began to pursue her own philanthropic and environmental interests by focusing on the evolving water crisis in Africa. She founded Well Aware in 2008 and Well Beyond in 2016.

Evans and her teams work with the great potential that already exists in struggling communities while catalyzing development through access to clean water. Evans has frequent speaking commitments on the success of this approach, as well as on water charity failure, cross-discipline approaches to social impact, nonprofit administration, creative fundraising, social media and global water issues. Recent speaking engagements have included the New York Times Women in the World event at Lincoln Center, PechaKucha Austin, eTown Radio Show, Skytop Strategies Water and Long Term Value Conference, Women in Science and Engineering Summit, Texas World Cultures Conference, U.S. Embassy Islamabad Young Entrepreneurs Summit, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Conference, the Austin Woman Anniversary Celebration, the Africa Business Expo, Populate Wall Street, and various other events and media.

Information

Industry experience

Education: PhD

Seniority: Board director, CEO, COO, CFO, President, Provost

Years of experience: 10 to 20 years

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