May 26th, 2017

Changes to the Board of Directors

The Society of Typographic Aficionados is pleased to announce that Erin McLaughlin and Xerxes Irani have joined its Board of Directors. Each bring their own notable experience and unique skills to the organization — in particular, the annual TypeCon conference.

In other news, Corey Holms has stepped down from the Board to focus his time and energy on other professional endeavors. Corey joined the Board in 2011 after designing the striking identity for TypeCon2010: Babel in Los Angeles. During his term, he embraced the role of Design Committee lead, providing solid creative direction and an unparalleled attention to detail while implementing the annual conference identity. Corey also served in the capacity of Board Archivist.

The Board would like to thank Corey for everything he contributed to the organization.

About the New Directors

Xerxes Irani

Xerxes Irani is a third-generation creative professional. His career covers time as a Creative Director, a Professor at the Alberta College of Art & Design (ACAD), and the founding partner of two successful design studios. Previously, he was creative director for Bill Gates’ media licensing companies, Corbis and Veer, leading an international network of creative teams which produced marketing and advertising assets for four global brands. His current role is principal designer of the Amazon home page. This husband of one, father of two also finds time to pursue personal projects, including designing seven stamps and one coin for Canada Post. He also specializes in brand positioning projects for high profile estates, such as Muhammad Ali, Martin Luther King, Jr., Albert Einstein, and Alfred Hitchcock.

Erin McLaughlin

Erin McLaughlin is a typeface designer and consultant specializing in South Asian scripts. She is a graduate of the Minneapolis College of Art & Design (MCAD) and earned an MA in Typeface Design from the University of Reading, UK. She had the honor of working as a type designer at Hoefler & Frere-Jones before starting her freelance practice. She now works on both Latin and non-Latin type projects with clients and collaborators around the world – all from the comfort of her dog-filled home. Erin is grateful for the support she has received from the type community and is ready to pay it forward.

About the Directors

Theresa Dela Cruz

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.

Grant Hutchinson

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 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 fills the role of head glyph monkey at Typostrophe.

Frank J. Martinez

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

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

Mary Catherine Pflug works for Monotype on the foundry team at MyFonts. This is her third year as a board member and currently serves as the treasurer and volunteer coordinator. She recently graduated with honors from Rollins College, with a degree in International Business and a thesis that focused on font sales, marketing, and distribution. Past work has involved managing events for Mama’s Sauce Print Shop in Orlando, design and marketing work at a variety of publications, and typeface design. Hobbies include: searching for the perfect doughnut, volunteering with AIGA, and cycling. And yes, she is one half of Type Sisters.

Neil Summerour

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 and 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

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.