March 9th, 2016

Changes to the Board of Directors

The Society of Typographic Aficionados (SOTA) is pleased to announce that Sara Spector Brown and Theresa Dela Cruz have joined its Board of Directors. Each bring their own notable experience and unique skills to the organization — in particular, the annual TypeCon conference.

Christopher Slye concluded his tenure with the Board of Directors at the end of 2015. He joined the Board in 2009, most recently serving as Chairman. It goes without saying that Christopher's contributions to SOTA and TypeCon are immeasurable. The Board thanks him for the time and effort he selflessly provided towards the success of the conference during his term.

With Christopher’s departure, current Board members Neil Summerour and Sharon Oiga have been appointed Chair and Vice Chair, respectively. Other changes to the Board include the appointment of members Delve Withrington and Mary Catherine Pflug to the positions of Secretary and Treasurer, respectively. The reinitiated position of Board Archivist has been assigned to Corey Holms. Also, Erik Vorhes has stepped down from the Board in order to focus his time and energy elsewhere.

About the Directors

Sara Spector Brown has a very diverse background, having spent time in graphic and web design, technology education, technical writing, IT management, consulting, system analysis and most recently, supporting and helping foundries with the successful transition of their fonts from designers' desktops to marketing, licensing and sales presentations on MyFonts. She can be often found trouble-shooting a font issue, chatting up next priorities with co-workers in Woburn, Belgium or Berlin, walking the dog, drinking a large coffee, all while happily singing some new song her teens have been blasting through the house.

Theresa Dela Cruz is a font licensing expert with a background in visual communications, music, and ethnic studies. She started her typographic career with FontShop in 2007 as part of their Sales and Support team. She is known for supporting the typographic community, championing type designers, saying “no”, and for her love of coffee. She currently works at Monotype on their Enterprise Solutions team and creates content for FontShop.

Corey Holms studied at the California Institute of the Arts and has been practicing graphic design for over 15 years. In 2015, he moved from Southern California to his hermit shack on the Strait of Juan de Fuca in Sequim, Washington, where he continues to work with a wide range of clients from multinational corporations to local boutiques. Although primarily working in entertainment design (movie posters), he also specializes in identity and type design. He has been affiliated with the Society of Typographic Aficionados since 2010, when he designed the identity for the Los Angeles conference, Babel.

Grant Hutchinson photographs suburbia, noodles code, accumulates gadgets, and sweats the details in Calgary, Alberta. He enjoys black coffee, low-bit electropop, geometric shapes, single malt whisky, juggling, and the smell of a freshly tarred roof. A shelf in his office sports a Diploma in Visual Arts from the Alberta College of Art & Design (ACAD) and an Emmy Award for his technical work during the 1988 Winter Olympics. He is one of the founders of Veer, a partner in Butter Label, and currently fills the role of head glyph monkey at both Typostrophe and Fairgoods.

Frank J. Martinez is founder of The Martinez Group PLLC, a Brooklyn-based law firm specializing in intellectual property protection. A former designer and Design Patent Examiner, Martinez earned a BFA in Fine Art from Pratt Institute in New York and served as Production Director for Landor Associates prior to attending law school. Having worked closely with design professionals for many years in both design and legal capacities, Martinez understands firsthand the business and intellectual property issues faced by designers.

Sharon Oiga holds BFAs (Graphic Design & Photography) from the UIC School of Design and an MFA (Graphic Design) from Yale University. At multidisciplinary design firms, including Studio/lab Chicago, she specialized in the areas of identity, branding, publication design, product development and packaging with collaborators in the science, health, education, arts, and business sectors. She is currently an Associate Professor at UIC. Her work is consistently recognized and funded, twice by Sappi Ideas That Matter. As well as serving SOTA, she is presently co-chairing the annual STA Design Weekend. She is also allergic to cats.

Mary Catherine Pflug is a type designer and honors student studying International Business at Rollins College. She manages events for Mama's Sauce Print Shop in Orlando, Florida. As the co-founder of the award-winning magazine The Independent, she has been awarded for her work in publishing by the Columbia Scholastic Press Association and others. This is her third year as a SOTA board member, where she serves as treasurer, leads a team of volunteers, and sits on the venue committee. What off-time she enjoys is spent in Europe and Japan with the rest spent searching for the perfect doughnut.

Neil Summerour obsessively creates letters. His Positype foundry carries the flag for his typefaces while Swash & Kern allows him to put a face to much of his custom lettering. As equally comfortable looping around with corporate commissions as he is personal projects and foundry releases, he is always at home in the studio. He teaches, lectures, workshops, mentors, and loves type & lettering. He’s a maker with Fairgoods, a maker of bad jokes and a devoted follower of creativity. He lives in Georgia with his family, with always one foot in Japan.

Delve Withrington has been crafting fonts for 20 years, is a former type designer for FontShop and Monotype and attended Savannah College of Art and Design in the pre-internet era of floppy disks and grunge. Delve creates bespoke type on commission and often collaborating, releases new type through his foundry, Delve Fonts. For SOTA, Delve serves as Secretary, secures sponsors, organizes the Catalyst Award and the TypeGallery. He enjoys painting, science fiction, cooking, and a well-timed pun. Delve lives with his family in Alameda, California.

About SOTA

The Society of Typographic Aficionados (SOTA) is an international not-for-profit organization dedicated to the promotion, study, and support of type, its history and development, its use in the world of print and digital imagery, its designers, and its admirers.