Alec Coles

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

FRSA The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), also known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA acronym is used m ...

(born 3 January 1959) has been CEO of

Western Australian Museum The Western Australian Museum is a statutory authority within the Culture and the Arts Portfolio, established under the ''Museum Act 1969''. The museum has six main sites. The state museum, now known as WA Museum Boola Bardip, officially re-op ...

since March 2010. He was educated at the

University of Leicester , mottoeng = So that they may have life , established = , type = public research university , endowment = £20.0 million , budget = £326 million , chancellor = David Willetts , vice_chancellor = Nishan Canagarajah , head_la ...

(BSc),

Newcastle University Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a UK public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is a red brick unive ...

and the

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and 26 schools of study. The annual income of the institution f ...

. He was previously Chief Executive of the

Northumberland Wildlife Trust Northumberland Wildlife Trust was established in 1971 (following a split from the ''Northumberland & Durham Trust'', established 1962) to help conserve and protect the wildlife of Northumberland, Newcastle upon Tyne and North Tyneside in the UK ...

and Director of

Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums (TWAM) is a regional group of United Kingdom National Museums of the United Kingdom, national museums and the county archives service located across the Tyne and Wear area of north-east England. They have been admini ...

. Coles is a

Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), also known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA acronym is used m ...

(FRSA), and was appointed an

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(OBE) in the

2010 Birthday Honours The 2010 Birthday Honours for the Commonwealth realms were announced to celebrate the Queen's Birthday on 7 June 2010 in New Zealand, on 12 June 2010 in the United Kingdom, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Sai ...

, "for services to museums". He was awarded an honorary degree: Doctor of Letters (D.Litt) by the University of Western Australia in 2017. In 2021, Coles was named Western Australian of the Year in the Arts and Culture category of the Celebrate WA 'WA Day' Awards.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coles, Alec 1959 births Living people Alumni of the University of Leicester Australian art curators British art curators Officers of the Order of the British Empire People from Wolverhampton