Richard Thomas Cole (born 1948) was full professor (retired in January 2014) and past chairperson of the Department of Advertising and Public Relations at Michigan State University.
During his absence from MSU, he served as an officer on two major Michigan-based health care corporations—Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Michigan (under CEO Richard Whitmer) as senior vice president in various capacities, and Detroit Medical Center (DMC) as executive vice president and chief administrative officer under then-CEO, now Detroit mayor, Mike Duggan.
[1] Cole and his wife Deborah, a sculptor and potter, reside in a Haslett, Michigan solar-powered, earth-bermed home designed by Guy Kerr (with a strong Paolo Soleri influence).
During this time, he conceptualized, and co-developed America's first pre-paid university tuition program (with State Treasurer Bob Bowman) – the Michigan Education Trust (MET).
In 1994, Cole was appointed by Governor John Engler as Democratic co-chair of the Michigan commission created to improve customer service.
Cole left Michigan State University in January, 2014, after having served for eight years as professor in the Advertising, Public Relations and Retailing department, which he chaired from 2006 to 2011.
He is also a founding steering committee member of the Center for Michigan, a "bi-partisan economic development think and do tank" in Ann Arbor.
In July, 1995, Crain's Detroit Business named Cole an "Executive Hero" for his contribution to a number of community organizations.
He also co-authored a chapter in the Handbook of Research on Effective Electronic Gaming in Education, Information Science Reference Publishing, with Elizabeth Quilliam in 2008, and numerous other publications (many listed below).