Vin Cipolla (born 1956) is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entreprene ...

and civic leader noted for his contributions in both the

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...

and

public sector The public sector, also called the state sector, is the part of the economy composed of both public services and public enterprises. Public sectors include the public goods and governmental services such as the military, law enforcement, pu ...

s. He is the founder of three media and

information technology Information technology (IT) is a set of related fields within information and communications technology (ICT), that encompass computer systems, software, programming languages, data processing, data and information processing, and storage. Inf ...

marketing firms and has served as

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

for six U.S. corporations in the financial services, telecommunications, consumer goods and media industries. Additionally he served on nine corporate boards throughout his career. He is a supporter of the arts and an active proponent for environmental preservation and sustainability as evidenced by his positions on the board of directors for more than twenty-five non-profit organizations including the

National Park Foundation The National Park Foundation (NPF) is the official charity of the National Park Service (NPS) and its national park sites. The NPF was chartered by Congress in 1967 with a charge to "further the conservation of natural, scenic, historic, scientif ...

and the

Municipal Art Society of New York The Municipal Art Society of New York (MAS) is a non-profit membership organization for preservation in New York City, which aims to encourage thoughtful planning and urban design and inclusive neighborhoods across the city. The organization was ...

, where he also served as president. Currently, he is serving as president and CEO of

Historic New England Historic New England, previously known as the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities (SPNEA), is a charitable, non-profit, historic preservation organization headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. It is focused on New England a ...

Early life and education

A native of

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

, Cipolla attended

Clark University Clark University is a private research university in Worcester, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1887 with a large endowment from its namesake Jonas Gilman Clark, a prominent businessman, Clark was one of the first modern research uni ...

Worcester, Massachusetts Worcester ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Massachusetts, second-most populous city in the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the list of United States cities by population, 113th most populous city in the United States. Named after Worcester ...

, where he was awarded Bachelor of Arts degrees ''

magna cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

'' in both English and government studies, was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, and received an honorary induction into Beta Gamma Sigma, the MBA Honors Society.

Career

Entrepreneurial

Cipolla launched a number of successful entrepreneurial endeavors in his early career. The Cipolla Group, a

direct marketing Direct marketing is a form of communicating an offer, where organizations communicate directly to a Target market, pre-selected customer and supply a method for a direct response. Among practitioners, it is also known as ''direct response ...

firm based out of New York City, was founded in 1983 and merged with Boston firm Ingalls, Quinn & Johnson in 1991. In 1993, Cipolla left IQ&J to form Pamet River Partners, a digital marketing company. After growing through expansion into London and Paris offices, Cipolla sold Pamet River Partners in 1999 to TeleTech Holdings, where he briefly remained as CEO of Pamet and Digital Creators. Cipolla left TeleTech later in 1999 to form HNW, Inc., developing wealth management software.

Corporate

In 2003, Cipolla became CEO of Veritude, a global employment agency that is a division of

Fidelity Investments Fidelity Investments, formerly known as Fidelity Management & Research (FMR), owned by FMR LLC and headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, provides financial services. Established in 1946, the company is one of the largest asset managers in the ...

. During this tenure, he sat on the board of Veritude and also of Fidelity Charitable Services, Fidelity's philanthropic arm.

Civic involvement

Cipolla is active in several civic organizations focused on conservation and the arts.

National Trust for Historic Preservation

Starting in 1993, Cipolla served as executive vice president of the

National Trust for Historic Preservation The National Trust for Historic Preservation is a privately funded, nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that works in the field of historic preservation in the United States. The member-supported organization was founded in 1949 ...

, where he published the Trust's national publication ''

Preservation Preservation may refer to: Heritage and conservation * Preservation (library and archival science), activities aimed at prolonging the life of a record while making as few changes as possible * ''Preservation'' (magazine), published by the Nat ...

''.

National Park Foundation

In 2005, Cipolla was named CEO of the

, the private philanthropy that raises funds to support the US National Park system.

Institute of Contemporary Art

He served on the board of trustees for the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston for 15 years, including 9 years as chairman and president, before becoming chairman emeritus. Among his accomplishments was the development and completion of a new museum building.

Municipal Art Society

Cipolla joined the board of the

Municipal Art Society The Municipal Art Society of New York (MAS) is a non-profit membership organization for preservation in New York City, which aims to encourage thoughtful planning and urban design and inclusive neighborhoods across the city. The organization was ...

of New York (MAS) in 2008, accepting the role as president in early 2009. Under his leadership, the MAS has produced a number of public projects that include the 9/11 Tribute in Light Memorial. He founded the MAS Summit for New York City, the city's largest annual urban policy conference and conducts the MAS Survey on Livability with the support of the Rockefeller Foundation. He is an active proponent of the rebuilding of a new

Penn Station Pennsylvania Station or Penn Station may refer to: Current train stations * Baltimore Penn Station * New York Penn Station ** Pennsylvania Station (1910–1963), the predecessor to the present New York City station * Newark Penn Station Train ...

in New York City and relocating

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as the Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh and Eighth Avenue (Manhattan), Eig ...

, calling the rebuilt train station "the key infrastructure and development project of our time and an essential investment in the future of our city."

Historic New England

In June 2020, he began his tenure at Historic New England as president and CEO.

Others

Additionally, Cipolla sits on the boards of National Parks of New York Harbor Conservancy, Ballet Hispanico, the Augustus Saint-Gaudens Memorial, The Christie's Charity, an
Sailors for the Sea

Awards and honors

* Member,

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States. It was founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, ...

at Clark University * Inductee,

Beta Gamma Sigma Beta Gamma Sigma () is an international business honor society. Founded in 1913 at the University of Wisconsin, University of Illinois and the University of California, it has over 980,000 members, selected from more than 600 collegiate chapters i ...

at Clark University Graduate School of Business Management (2000) * Honored at the 2010 Ballet Hispanico Gala for his philanthropic contributions

Personal

Cipolla is married to landscape artist Celine McDonald and has four daughters.

References

External links

Npr.org

Citylandnyc.org

Crainsnewyork.com

Crainsnewyork.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cipolla, Vin American businesspeople 1956 births Living people Clark University alumni