Jonathan Lee takes the reins as new chair of The Rose Art Museum Board of Directors

WALTHAM, Mass. – Jonathan Lee of Belmont, Mass. has been appointed a three-year term as chair of The Rose Art Museum Board of Directors at Brandeis University. It’s a position that’s “close to his heart” as his mother, Mildred Lee, was the first president of the board decades ago.

“I’m happy to accept this position with the Rose,” Lee said. “The Rose has an enormous collection and is a huge asset to the university.” Lee added that this is a “good time” for the Rose, which has enjoyed significant gifts and a “spiral of success” through the leadership of Michael Rush, the Henry and Lois Foster Director of the Rose.

Lee first joined the board as a member in 2005 and will replace outgoing chair Gerald Fineberg, who has held the position for six years.

"Jerry Fineberg has given tremendous service to the Rose, overseeing a time of great growth and increased income,” Rush said. “Jon Lee inherits the leadership of a very strong group of board members whose generosity to the Rose is the backbone of the institution."

Lee will lead the Rose in new growth, including a new building project, and will help focus new energy on the collection of the Rose, the finest collection of modern and contemporary art in the region. The Rose's collection endowment has doubled in the past year to almost $7 million.

“The Rose has a tradition of outstanding shows,” he said. “Our goal is to increase the number of people who come in to enjoy and experience the art.”

Lee has spent more than 20 years engaged as a principal in corporate acquisitions and as president of Lee Capital Investments, LLC, a private equity and investment-banking firm located in Boston, Mass.  Mr. Lee serves as director of Fisher Avenue Capital, LLC; Leading Indicator Systems, LLC; and Radius Staffing, LLC. Early in his career, Mr. Lee was an attorney for the Securities and Exchange Commission.
 
Aside from the Rose Art Museum, Jon serves on the board of two other art institutions:  The Aspen Art Museum and The Whitney Museum of American Art.  His other non-profit board affiliations are with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Chief Executive Organization and The Commonwealth School.

About the Rose Art Museum at Brandeis

Located on the campus of Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass., The Rose Art Museum was founded in 1961. Over the past 40 years The Rose has earned a considerable reputation for its collections and exhibitions. The collection contains significant holdings in post-War American art including iconic works by Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, Willem DeKooning, Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol and numerous others.

The Brandeis art collection of approximately 6,000 objects is considered one of the most significant and comprehensive collections of modern and contemporary art in New England. During the past four decades, The Rose has organized landmark exhibitions including Bruce Conner’s and Louise Nevelson's first one-person exhibitions (1965 and 1967 respectively), Frank Stella’s Protractor Series (1969), the first US museum video art exhibition “Vision and Television” (1970), Helen Frankenthaler’s work from the 1950s (1981), Kiki Smith' and Ellen Gallagher’s first one-person museum exhibitions (1981 and 1993), and the award-winning “More than Minimal” (1996); Roxy Paine (2002); Barry McGee (2003), and “DreamingNow” (2004).