THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, May 13, 1995 TAG: 9505130289
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LON WAGNER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 90 lines
It's easy to get an interview with Evelyn Y. Davis, but it's impossible to get a word in edge . . .
``I gave George Allen a big hug today, make sure you put that in your story,'' Davis says. ``You may quote me, I find him very attractive.
``In a politician, looks and personality are very important,'' Davis continues, as she always does, ``because what else has a politician got? Promises and b.s., you know?''
If you don't ``know,'' Davis will tell you. If you don't agree, she'll explain her side until you do. Or at least until you nod in agreement.
And she has been explaining her philosophy to CEOs and company presidents since 1960, when, as an IBM shareholder, she stood up, ``shaking like a leaf,'' and asked a question. She no longer shakes - thanks to a $20 public-speaking course at the YMCA.
Now, it's the company chairpeople now who get tense when Davis speaks. She owns about $700,000 stock in 120 companies and she attends 30 to40 shareholders meetings each year. She was in Norfolk on Thursday for Ford Motor Co.'s annual meeting.
There's no doubt Davis can get the attention of corporate America. Need proof?
When she arrived at the Norfolk airport, Waterside Marriott General Manager Dan Marone picked her up. Why?
``Because Mrs. Evelyn Davis is a celebrity in Norfolk,'' Marone says before putting forth the real reason, ``and Mr. Marriott, Bill Marriott Jr., is a personal friend of Mrs. Davis.''
At Chairman Marriott's suggestion, the Norfolk hotel also bumped up the water temperature from 82 degrees to 87 degrees. ``Evelyn Y. Davis, the most famous stockholder in America,'' as she introduces herself, doesn't like cold water.
What else? Well, when Davis was shopping for a new car last year, the chairmen of the Big Three automakers put on the sales pitch themselves. She picked Chrysler's offering, a Cirrus, and Chairman Robert Eaton delivered it.
``Bob Eaton delivered it to me in my home, to my front door. Not bad, huh? Naturally, that was the subject of a lot of gossip in Detroit, huh? That's probably what he wanted, right?''
Davis, thrice divorced - ``You may quote me, too: It's easier to get married than divorced'' - doesn't command attention from CEOs because of the value of her stocks. They listen to her because they have no choice, like Ford Chairman Alex Trotman on Thursday.
She wanted to know what precautions Ford was taking to prevent a hostile takeover, such as the one proposed this spring at Chrysler by investor Kirk Kirkorian.
``I'd be glad to discuss that, Mrs. Davis,'' Trotman said, ``but I think it would be appropriate during part four of . . .''
``No, no, no. This is appropriate now,'' she demanded.
She persisted with the question until other shareholders shouted ``Sit down, sit down.'' During a general discussion later in the meeting, she came back with the question - and five or six others:
``OK, Alex, now you can answer my hard questions.''
Evelyn Yvonne Davis' hard questions seem all the more forceful because she fires them out, staccato-like, in a Dutch accent. She was born in Holland, but has lived most of her life in the United States. She lives now in the Watergate complex in Washington.
The only thing Davis doesn't like to discuss is her age, but she's about the age at which most people retire.
``I'll tell you, if you don't use it,'' she says. ``Only a jealous woman would use my age, right?''
Davis follows politics almost as closely as corporations, but she thinks companies should stay out of making political contributions during primaries. She's a Republican, but . . .
``I voted for Clinton because things were getting dull, with this Bush, and we haven't had a dull day since.''
Her conservative political philosophy extends to her view on HOV lanes, which she . . .
``I think they are not fair. You could have one person in a car who pays more taxes than three or four in another car.''
She also publishes a once-a-year corporate newsletter that she sells mainly to company chairpeople and presidents.
``Like I say, nobody knows corporate America better than Evelyn Y. Davis,'' says Evelyn Y. Davis.
Most of the photos in the newsletter are of CEOs standing next to - guess who? - Evelyn Y. Davis. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
She owns about $700,000 in stock in 120 companies, and when she
talks, company chairpeople have learned to listen.
KEYWORDS: PROFILE BIOGRAPHY by CNB