Edwin B. Hathaway

Edwin B.Hathaway Trustee, Museum of Arts and Design

The Museum extends its profound gratitude to Ted Hathaway, a Museum trustee and CEO of Oldcastle Glass. Oldcastle is donating all of the architectural glass for Two Columbus Circle. This is an extraordinary gesture, and as Ted Hathaway describes it, an opportunity for mutual benefit. New York Times Oldcastle Glass Donation

Edwin B. (Ted) Hathaway is president and CEO of Oldcastle Glass ®, acclaimed by architects and the glazing industry for its range of architectural glass products and services. Hathaway, who earned an MBA with honors at the Columbia University Business School, started his career as a commercial banker with Bankers Trust, and then worked for a leveraged-buyout firm. He joined Oldcastle, Inc., in 1987 as vice president for development. In 1990, he identified and championed the formation of Oldcastle Glass® with the acquisition of HGP Industries, an architectural glass fabricator with $80 million in sales and 11 operating locations. Over the next decade, 25 bolt-on acquisitions advanced the business to North American leadership in fabricated glass products for residential and commercial construction. Oldcastle Glass® currently has 47 locations in 22 states and four Canadian provinces, with sales in excess of $600 million. Hathaway was promoted to chief operating officer in 1998 and to president and CEO in 2000.

Hathaway joined the Museum of Arts & Design's Board of Trustees in 2004. Though his principal residence is in Santa Monica, California, he also has an apartment on Manhattan's West Side, just blocks from the Museum's future home at 2 Columbus Circle.

BECOMING INVOLVED AT MAD

Ted Hathaway's key introduction to the Museum of Arts & Design was fortuitous. He was familiar with the Museum and its focus on studio craft, decorative arts and design, but was not involved. He recalled that the moment occurred at the 2004 Heritage Ball, a gala benefit for the New York Center for Architecture. Hathaway purchased a table and invited his friend, the prominent communications consultant Ben Hartley, to join his table. Hartley was accompanied that evening by Holly Hotchner, director of the Museum of Arts & Design. During dinner, and in her very spirited way, Hotchner spoke passionately about the Museum and its expansion plans for Two Columbus Circle. She pressed Hathaway to become involved at the Museum and with unapologetic audacity even asked if he would consider making a capital contribution.

Hathaway said he saw parallels between Oldcastle Glass and the Museum of Arts & Design. Both were existing organizations forging new identities. Oldcastle Glass, at the time, was not well known on the East Coast and as its president and CEO, he was seeking to expand Oldcastle's brand awareness. Similarly, the Museum of Arts & Design had recentlychanged its name to one that more accurately reflected its mission. MAD was challenged with honing its own identity in a rapidly expanding field in which traditional boundaries were disappearing and allied disciplines such as architecture, fashion, interior design and new technologies were being embraced.

CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

In 2004, Ted Hathaway accepted the Museum's invitation to join the Board of Trustees. He saw his involvement as providing challenges and opportunities. The Museum was branding its new name and expanding its reach to new and diverse constituencies. Similarly, Oldcastle Glass was building its East Coast presence. These parallel challenges provided a "window" of opportunity.

When the Museum opens in 2008 at 2 Columbus Circle, it will revitalize an important urban space in Manhattan's midtown. The building's size, shape and scale will distinguish it from the other buildings on the Circle. A glazed, nacreous ceramic exterior, changing color as the light plays upon it, will distinguish it from its neighbors. Bands of exterior vertical and horizontal glass in a linear pattern will provide daylight for galleries and open the building to outside views. The building's distinctive material and visual presence underscores the Museum's focus on materials and processes.

Hathaway saw something else. He saw the Museum's high-visibility project as an opportunity for a public-private partnership. Oldcastle Glass would donate all the glass for the Museum, and it would be customized to the needs and distinctive façade of the new facility. Delicately fritted glass, vertically patterned, is being created specifically for the Museum by Oldcastle's decorative glass factory in Louisville. The fritted glass and ceramic panels will give the Museum the appearance and presence of a singular object, adding a jewel to the surrounding cityscape. This signature high-profile glass installation will be the East coast beacon of Oldcastle Glass.

HIGHLIGHT AT TWO COLUMBUS CIRCLE

What excites Ted Hathaway most about Two Columbus Circle is the Artists' Open Studios program. These studios will offer the visiting public the rare opportunity to watch artists creating their work-intimately connecting the artists' creative process and use of materials to the art exhibited in the galleries. From one to three artists will be working at any one time in clay, cold glass, metal, wood and fiber. In addition, these artists will lead demonstrations and workshops for students and the public.

www.oldcastleglass.com