Cole to receive alumni award of distinction

Marketing executive, entrepreneur and Bradford native Thomas Cole ’80-’82 will receive this year’s Alumni Award of Distinction from the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford’s Alumni Association.

The award will be presented during commencement exercises April 28 by Rick Esch, Pitt-Bradford president, and Sarah Lorya ’10, PBAA president.

“Throughout his illustrious career, Tom has demonstrated outstanding leadership, innovation and a commitment to excellence,” Esch said, “and has made a significant impact in his profession, community and beyond.”

“Tom’s contributions have enriched our campus community and inspired our students, faculty, staff and fellow alumni,” Esch added.

Cole’s career in marketing, management and brand building spans more than 40 years and includes strategic leadership roles in several established global organizations as well as in agencies he founded.

Currently, Cole is chairman and CEO at Tandem Theory, a marketing firm he founded that is based in Dallas, which provides a wide range of marketing services, including data and analytics, social media management, brand strategy and messaging, and search engine optimization. Tandem Theory’s clients include several national and global brands, including Baskin Robbins, Purina, Benihana and Ruby Tuesday.

Cole’s long and distinguished career in marketing began in his hometown of Bradford at his father’s car dealership, Casey Cole Chevrolet Inc.  From the time Cole was 13 and through his first two years of college at Pitt-Bradford, he worked at the dealership where his father exposed him to the various aspects of the business and, when the younger Cole was ready, gave him additional responsibilities. While a student at Pitt-Bradford, Cole was promoted to assistant sales manager.  

Cole said his experience at his father’s dealership and touching all aspects of the business molded and motivated him as he ventured into the business world on his own. 

“During those years I never stopped studying my father,” Cole said. “He taught me what it meant to work hard, shoulder responsibility for a lot of people, manage cash flow, and pay the bills, motivate a sales force, address employee issues and balance a personal life.” 

Cole graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a bachelor’s degree in business administration and economics. He completed a Master of Business Administration at Pitt in 1987 then landed a position as regional marketing manager at PepsiCo Inc., Pizza Hut Division. During his time at PepsiCo, he served in several leadership roles, which culminated in his serving as vice president of marketing.

After leaving PepsiCo, Cole served for three years as partner and executive vice president/president at The Forbes Group in Dallas; was executive vice president, then president at Havas Advertising Inc. in Chicago and Dallas, respectively; and was named executive vice president, global business director at J. Walter Thompson USA Inc. in Detroit.

In 2005, after nearly 30 years in the corporate world, he decided to venture out on his own and established his own company, Razor Competitive Edge, a retail marketing agency that specialized in brand building, marketing strategy, and communications and served several global clients, including Domino’s Pizza, Rent-A-Center and Dunkin’ Donuts.  

In 2006, just one year after its founding, Razor was ranked No. 1 on the 2006 Advertising Age Agency Report Card on the fastest-growing agencies list, ninth on Entrepreneurship magazine’s “Hot 100” list of fastest-growing companies in the United States, and No. 1 on the 2006 Cox Caruth Institute “Dallas 100” fastest growing private companies list. 

In addition to a bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Pitt, Cole has an executive MBA from Harvard Business School.

Cole and his wife, Rose, live in Dallas. He is the father of three children.

Cole joins a short list of previous PBAA Alumni Award of Distinction recipients. The most recent recipients are Dr. Larry Schardt ’72-’74, Rhett Kennedy ’92 and Chris Napoleon ’86-’88.

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