Our Story

Steve Evered has nearly forty years of government relations experience. Since 2003, Evered has lived in Greenville, South Carolina where he served as Vice President Government Affairs for Michelin North America. Until he retired at the end of 2015, he coordinated all of Michelin’s government relations activities for Canada, Mexico and the United States. While at Michelin, Evered managed all government relations activities related to Michelin investment decisions impacting its industrial footprint and successfully led the effort in Congress to protect Michelin from “Buy America” legislation designed to cancel the company’s many defense contracts. He led a Michelin initiative, eventually supported by the other US tire manufacturers, to include tire fuel efficiency standards in transportation legislation that was enacted into law. Evered worked with Michelin’s global government affairs network on a wide range of trade, energy and environmental issues. He assisted the Port of Charleston in its efforts to ensure federal funding to deepen the Charleston harbor to accommodate Post Panamax vessels. Evered served on the boards of the Rubber Manufacturers Association and the Organization for International Investment. He chaired the South Carolina State Chamber of Commerce Good Government Committee and the South Carolina Tire Manufacturers Council. He started his career working on Capitol Hill and successfully managed a Congressional re-election campaign. In Washington, he worked for numerous clients at a boutique consulting firm and managed defense, energy and international trade issues for two aerospace and defense companies, United Technologies Corporation and Honeywell. Evered holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Oregon and a Masters of Business Administration for Business, Government and Not-for-Profit Management from the Atkinson Graduate School of Management at Willamette University. Rich Reed, Charter One Bluffton Born and raised in middle TN, Rich graduated from the University of Tennessee in 1993 and later received a graduate degree from Vanderbilt University. Bluffton, SC became his primary residence in 2001 where he soon met his wife Jamee (a NJ native). Their beautiful daughter, Abby, came along in 2006. Rich is a partner in Charter One Realty – one of the Coastal Lowcountry’s top real estate companies with SC offices in Beaufort, Bluffton and on Hilton Head Island along with GA offices in Savannah. Relationships are important to Rich as you’ll often find him with his girls, his extended family (his brother and cousins are his business partners), his friends, and his clients (many of whom have become lifelong friends too). Favorite activities typically include fellowship around golf, hiking, fishing, watching (or arguing about) college football, and enjoying great cuisine of any sort.