2018 National Subcontractor of the Year Evans Capacitor Company, East Providence, RI

(L-R) President, David Evans and CEO, Charles Dewey; together they co-founded Evans Capacitor Company in 1996.

Evans Capacitor Company, headquartered in East Providence, develops and manufactures high-energy/high-power density capacitors. Capacitors store energy and then, when needed, release that energy in a burst – like your camera battery releasing stored energy when you use the flash to take a picture. Capacitors are used in a wide-range of consumer and commercial electronic products. Evans’ capacitors, however, are used primarily for demanding aerospace and defense applications, including airborne radar, laser targeting, and electronic warfare systems, where size, weight, power, and efficiency are critically important.

David Evans and Charles Dewey co-founded Evans Capacitor in 1996 to pursue technology Mr. Evans invented. With over 20 patents in capacitor chemistry, design, and packaging, Mr. Evans continues to invent, leading the company’s development and engineering team. Mr. Dewey draws on his significant prior management experience to provide oversight and direction to the company’s administration, production, marketing, and finance. The company is privately held, with over 90% owned by the founders, employees, families and Directors.

Since its inception, Evans Capacitor has been a supplier to Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, which nominated Evans for this award. For more than a decade, Evans has supplied capacitors to Lockheed Martin for use in the Arrowhead® program, which essentially is the vision and targeting package in the U.S. Army’s Apache attack helicopter. In its nomination, Lockheed Martin applauded Evans’ extraordinary delivery and quality, specifically highlighting that Evans’ assemblies as installed in the Arrowhead® system have performed with 100% reliability, without a single report of a capacitor-related problem in flight. This package has improved the safety and efficacy of the program and is described by Lockheed as “a terrific help to the warfighter.”

Last year Evans Capacitor received a STEP (State Trade and Export Promotion) grant – which is funded in part by the U.S. Small Business Administration — to expand their international presence to new markets. Working with the John H. Chafee Center for International Business at Bryant University, Evans received international marketing assistance that Mr. McClennan described as “terrific,” aiding Evans in trade shows in the U.K. and Canada, creating advertising in a U.K. digital magazine, and having representatives participate on Evans’ behalf in a U.K. exhibit. Being recognized as the national subcontractor of the year is “a great honor and extra-ordinary,” said Mr. McClennan. “It is a testament to everyone’s hard work over a long period of time, from the top down.” “It speaks to the value of the technology originally developed and continually improved, placing Evans in the world wide technical lead.”

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