Ellen Stirn Mavec has been a trustee of the Cleveland Museum of Art since 1991. She is a Vice President of the board, a member of the Executive Committee, and Co-Chair of The Campaign for the Cleveland Museum of Art. Other museum affiliations have included participation on the Accessions, Building and Grounds, Education, Government Relations, Development, the 1916 Building Oversight, and architect selection committees, as well as chairing the Nominating Committee. She was a co-founder of the Young Friends (an under-40 affiliate group), and member of the TriDeca Society (Decorative Art affiliate group), and Exhibition Advisory Committee. She is a current member of the Women’s Council and Legacy Society.

Ellen’s involvement in the Greater Cleveland community is extensive. She is a member of the board of directors of The Cleveland State University Foundation, a Life Trustee of the Great Lakes Theater Festival and a corporate board member of the Holden Arboretum. Ellen is a graduate of Leadership Cleveland, class of 1999. In 2003, the YWCA named Ellen one of Greater Cleveland's Women of Achievement and in 2004 Northern Ohio Live magazine honored her with its Rainmaker Award. Most recently, the Cleveland Institute of Art awarded Ellen their Medal for Excellence in 2008. In 2002, Ellen was the recipient of the Richard W. Day Distinguished Young Alumnus Award at Hawken School.

Early in her career, Ellen devoted her time working in development for the former advocacy group NOVA (the New Organization for the Visual Arts). In 1984, she opened in downtown Cleveland the Ellen Stirn Galleries that was devoted to 19^th and 20^th century decorative arts. In 1988, she relocated the gallery to the distinguished jewelry and fine gifts company Potter and Mellen and in 1989 she purchased and assumed its leadership. Ellen discontinued the retail gift department in 2005 in order to focus on its on-line jewelry and corporate sales.

Ellen is president of the Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation which in addition to giving generously to the museum, has also supported the Musical Arts Association, University Hospitals, the Cleveland Botanical Garden, The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, University Circle Inc., Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.

Ellen attended Laurel School in Shaker Heights, Ohio and graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in art history from Northwestern University. Following graduation, she served as an intern at the National Endowment for the Arts and later studied antiques and decorative arts at Sotheby’s in England.

Ellen and her husband, Bruce, live in Hunting Valley, Ohio with their two daughters, Vanessa and Madelaine.

Listen to the streaming audio file from this luncheon:
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