{"id":92453,"date":"2025-08-18T18:20:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-18T18:20:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/92453\/"},"modified":"2025-08-18T18:20:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-18T18:20:07","slug":"jeffrey-cole-joins-cleveland-museum-of-art-as-honorary-trustee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/92453\/","title":{"rendered":"Jeffrey Cole joins Cleveland Museum of Art as honorary trustee"},"content":{"rendered":"

CLEVELAND, Ohio \u2014 The Cleveland Museum of Art<\/a> (CMA) has added a heavyweight to its leadership ranks. <\/p>\n

On Wednesday, the museum announced the appointment of Jeffrey Cole as an honorary trustee\u2014a name that carries weight not only in Cleveland\u2019s arts community, but across the global optical industry.<\/p>\n

Cole isn\u2019t just another business executive with a passion project. He\u2019s a lifelong CMA member, longtime supporter of the city\u2019s cultural institutions and, along with his wife Patricia O\u2019Brien Cole\u2014an accomplished jazz singer who has graced the museum\u2019s stage\u2014someone who has made the arts part of his personal and professional story.<\/p>\n

You can\u2019t talk about Cole without talking about vision\u2014both literally and figuratively. As chairman and CEO of Cole National Company from 1983 to 2003, he grew the business his father founded in the 1940s into a powerhouse, managing household names like Pearle Vision, Sears Optical, Target Optical and Things Remembered. <\/p>\n

By the time Luxottica acquired the company in 2004, Cole National was generating more than a $1 billion dollars annually.<\/p>\n

And he didn\u2019t stop there. In 1996, he co-founded Pearle Europe (later GrandVision), which exploded into the dominant optical retailer across Europe and Latin America, with more than 7,500 stores in 46 countries. By the time EssilorLuxottica<\/a> acquired GrandVision in 2021, its revenues had grown from $100 million to more than $4 billion.<\/p>\n

\u201cJeff brings exceptional leadership, global business savvy and a deep commitment to the arts,\u201d said William M. Griswold, the CMA\u2019s director and president. \u201cWe are honored to welcome him in this new capacity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Closer to home, Cole\u2019s name is firmly etched into the Cleveland Clinic\u2019s Cole Eye Institute<\/a>, one of the nation\u2019s premier centers for eye research and treatment. <\/p>\n

Just this year, the massive Jeffrey and Patricia Cole Pavilion opened, adding 170,000 square feet to the facility and dramatically expanding its reach. That blend of business vision and civic investment has defined Cole\u2019s career. <\/p>\n

From serving on the board of Safilo in Italy to guiding Hilco Vision with Cleveland\u2019s Blue Point Capital, to revitalizing iconic American sunglasses brand REVO and building a new eyewear platform that acquired Europa Eyewear and EYEBOBS, Cole has consistently pushed the global eyewear market forward while keeping ties to Cleveland strong.<\/p>\n

His r\u00e9sum\u00e9 goes well beyond optics. Cole has sat on the boards of companies across industries\u2014Hartmarx, Fortunoff, Edison Brothers, Professional Sports Publications and more\u2014playing key roles in growth and strategy. <\/p>\n

He\u2019s also been a trustee of the Cleveland Orchestra, chaired the Ohio Arts Council, sat on the National Board of Smithsonian Associates and helped fund the Jack Kerouac Writers in Residence Project in Orlando.<\/p>\n

For the billions in revenue and global reach, Cole has never drifted too far from his roots. A Cleveland native who went on to Harvard College and Harvard Business School, he cut his teeth as an editor at the Harvard Lampoon and a member of the Hasty Pudding Institute. <\/p>\n

Today, he\u2019s just as likely to be recognized for his philanthropy as for his business acumen.<\/p>\n

CMA\u2019s decision to bring him on as an honorary trustee feels like a natural extension of that trajectory: a Clevelander with global reach, giving back to the city\u2019s institutions and strengthening arts for the next generation.<\/p>\n

If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CLEVELAND, Ohio \u2014 The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) has added a heavyweight to its leadership ranks. On…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":92454,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[228,226,227,229,88],"class_list":["post-92453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92453"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92453\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}