2025 Board nominations

Under the SOF bylaws, the Nominations Committee (Brent Evans, Chair; Bonner Miller Cutting,  Cheryl Eagan-Donovan) is responsible for nominating candidates for any new Board terms as of the conclusion of the 2025 Annual Meeting and nominating someone to serve as SOF President for a one-year term starting at the conclusion of the 2025 Annual Meeting.

Of the current Trustees, the second three-year terms of Richard Foulke and Ben August will expire in 2025.  Tom Townsend’s replacement for Earl Showerman and Eva Varelas’ replacement for Michael Dudley will also expire and they are both eligible to run for a three year term.

To this end — and with the approval of all who are named herein — the Nominations Committee makes the following nominations:

Trustees for three-year terms (2025-2028):

 

Tom Townsend has been studying and researching both Elizabethan history and the Shakespeare authorship question for over 35 years. A long-time member of the SOF, he has presented numerous papers at conferences and has twice presented introductions to the authorship issue for those new to this issue. He has also published several articles in the SOF Newsletter. A former Director of Consumer Insights (a senior research position) for a large advertising agency, he holds a master’s degree from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland Ohio.

 

 

 

 

 

Eva Varelas is a New York State licensed CPA and financial professional with over two decades of experience in accounting, auditing, and business administration. Her career spans government, nonprofits, and global companies. Eva holds a BA in English from Fordham University and an MBA in Public Accounting from Pace University. She is currently a Financial Consultant with the Robinhood Foundation. In her previous role, she served eight years as an Assistant Controller at the National September 11 Memorial Museum.

Eva is passionate about the ancient Mediterranean world, the Renaissance, and the Middle Ages. She enjoys studying philosophy, poetry and drama in ancient Greek, and learning introductory Latin. Intrigued by the Shakespeare authorship question, Eva actively follows contemporary scholarship in this area. Eva brings creativity and a fresh perspective to her philanthropic endeavors, and serves as a strategic partner to humanitarian, cultural, and arts organizations.

 

 

Jonathan Jackson is a multi-dimensional artist: an author, musician, actor and filmmaker. Jonathan’s life in the arts began as an actor at the age of eleven on General Hospital, where his performances garnered him five EMMY Awards.  After many years working in feature films such as Tuck Everlasting and Insomnia, he played Avery Barkly in the renowned drama, Nashville, for six seasons.

Along with international tours with the Nashville Cast, he is the lead singer and songwriter for the band Jonathan Jackson + Enation. As an author his works as include The Harrowing of Hell, Anthology of Longing and The Mystery of Art, which has been translated into Greek, Romanian and Russian.  Jonathan is also the Associate Dean and Primary Lecturer at Theoria School of Filmmaking.

In 2022, the Royal Literary Magazine Award for Distinction of Excellence was awarded to Mr. Jackson, “for the contribution to theunderstanding of authentic art, for literary works written with inspiration and talent, for highlighting the values of Eastern culture.”

Jonathan’s interest in Shakespeare began at a young age, when his TV mother, Genie Francis, gave him an antique edition of Hamlet for Christmas when he was eleven years old. After reading Shakespeare By Another Name in 2010, his interest in the SAQ began. While preparing to lecture at Theoria School ofFilmmaking, in 2021, the Authorship Question took on a more intense search for answers. Mr. Jackson’s research culminated in the presentation, The Moral and Spiritual Vision of Edward de Vere, which he delivered at the 2024 SOF Conference in Denver. He has since read The Complete Works of Shakespeare and continues to research with the hopes of writing a book on the same subject as the presentation.

Over the course of three decades, his journey as an artist, performer and public speaker has taken him to many places around the world, including the UK, Ireland, Italy, France, Romania, Russia, Canada and Greece. He currently resides in Tennessee with his wife Elisa and their three children.

For more, visit www.JonathanJackson.com.

 

Phoebe Nir‘s life was changed forever one fateful evening during COVID lockdowns, when she stumbled upon a YouTube video of Hank Whittemore’s one-man show, Shake Speare’s Treason. She tumbled straight down the Oxfordian rabbit hole, and hasn’t come up for air since. Phoebe has produced a wide variety of beginners-friendly educational videos about the Shakespeare Authorship Question on  TikTok  and  YouTube  as @phoebe_devere. She threw two notorious  De Vere Ball influencer parties in New York City, inspiring much online discourse and, allegedly, a cartoon in the New Yorker.

She is also the self-appointed capellmeister of the  Ox-Tones , a one-hit wonder Oxfordian band that performs her choral setting of Sonnet 17, orchestrated by Bonner Miller Cutting, at the annual conferences.

Phoebe’s research presentations include  a talk on poet Michael Drayton’s connection to the Shakespeare Authorship Question, an investigation of Alexander Pope’s role in the creation of the Shakespeare statue in Westminster Abbey, and The Three Burials of Edward de Vere: How the Real Shakespeare Was Erased and Replaced.

Phoebe and her long-time artistic collaborator Linds Gray are currently working on a docu-series about Edward de Vere. Their previous film, Eco Village premiered in the Bright Futures section of the International Film Festival Rotterdam. Phoebe holds degrees in Theater from Brown University and NYU.

 

For SOF President for a one year term: Brent Evans

Brent has a master’s degree in Asian History from the University of Pennsylvania and two additional years of intensive Japanese language study at International Christian University in Tokyo. He is retired after a 40-year career in international trade. In terms of the authorship question, as lifelong devotees of Shakespeare, Brent and his wife, Patty, were thunderstruck when they stumbled upon a YouTube video of two of their favorite Shakespearean actors, Derek Jacobi and Mark Rylance, convincingly outlining their incredulity about “the man from Stratford.” For Brent, the traditional “genius” explanation quickly disintegrated. It was replaced by a passionate interest in the authorship question, which has prompted years of reading and study. Brent recently retired from serving as the Chairman of the SOF’s Nominating Committee in order to run for president.  He remains Chairman of the  Education and Outreach Committees and is the SOF’s Official Liaison with the UK’s DeVere Society.  Brent‘s focus on the board thus far has been on outreach to high school teachers and students, playgoers and “anyone who loves Shakespeare.”  In the coming year, Brent also supports efforts to increase membership and fundraising, and improve the internal operations of the SOF.  Brent was elected to a three year term on the Board of Trustees in 2024.

 

In sum, the Nominations Committee formally moves the Board to accept this report, publicize these motions via the SOF website by 30 July 2025 for action by the membership at the 2025 annual meeting in New Haven (currently scheduled for September 21).

Respectfully submitted: Bonner Cutting, Cheryl Eagan-Donovan, Alex McNeil

Addendum:

N.B.

Under the bylaws (Art. IV, sec. 2) trustees may only serve TWO consecutive three-year terms.

For the record, the following terms will expire in Fall 2026:

Bonner Cutting (completing second term)
Bob Meyers (completing second term)

The following terms will expire in Fall 2027:

Dorothea Dickerson (completing second term)
Tom Woosnam (completing second term)