SHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY WELCOMES THREE NEW MEMBERS TO ITS BOARD OF TRUSTEES

17 JUNE 2019, Washington, D.C. At the June 12, 2019 Board of Trustees meeting for the Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC), JOHN AFFLECK was voted in as the newest member of the Board of Trustees. Mr. Affleck’s company CoStar is celebrating its tenth year as the lead sponsor of STC’s annual Free For All, a much-loved Washington tradition, offering free performances of a Shakespearean classic to the general public each summer. To date, the Free For All has reached nearly 700,000 area residents and counting, due to the sustained sponsorship of CoStar and Mr. Affleck’s continued support. Mr. Affleck joins two other new members who were both voted in during the spring Board meeting on February 8, 2019, DeDe Lea and J. Kendall Lott.

DEDE LEA is Executive Vice President of Global Government Relations at Viacom. This year, Viacom became a new major sponsor of the 2019 Will on the Hill event which welcomes Members of Congress and distinguished Washington influencers onto the Shakespearean stage for a one-night-only bipartisan comedy performance. Members work together to support Shakespeare Theatre Company’s educational goals that serve the entire Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, reaching over 20,000 students, teachers and community members every year through education and community programs. Ms. Lea is also serving as a Co-Chair of the 2019 STC Gala with fellow Trustee Gail MacKinnon.

J. KENDALL LOTT, President and CEO of M Powered Strategies, Inc., is a longtime subscriber and donor at STC, who is particularly devoted to issues of accessibility for all theatre patrons. His most recent generous contribution this spring allowed STC to replace all the Assisted Listening Devices and system for both theatres.
“On behalf of the board of the Shakespeare Theatre Company, I am delighted to welcome this new class of trustees,” Shakespeare Theatre Company’s President of the Board of Trustees MICHAEL R. KLEIN welcomed new members at the meeting. “Their deep commitment to the mission and the impressive range of talents and skills they bring will help us take advantage of the many wonderful opportunities ahead under the dynamic leadership of our new Artistic Director, Simon Godwin.”

ABOUT THE BOARD MEMBERS

JOHN AFFLECK
Vice President of Market Analytics
CoStar
John Affleck serves as CoStar’s Vice President of Market Analytics. He oversees a growing team of more than 60 analysts and economists dedicated to delivering to the industry the most insightful and useful analysis about commercial real estate. Lately, he has been leading the production of CoStar’s digital video content, featuring the analyst group. He encourages the team to “speak the speech trippingly on the tongue—but do not saw the air too much with your hand.”

In addition, Mr. Affleck has worked closely with the firm’s advisory clients to produce custom analyses of CoStar data to answer specific research questions and develop strategies for investing across U.S. and global property markets. Mr. Affleck has authored several white papers, including “Cap Rates vs. Spreads,” “Real Estate in the Lost Decade,” “Do Interest Rates Matter?”, “What’s Really Happening With Apartment Rents,” as well as CoStar’s data and methodology documentation, and has been cited in the Wall Street Journal, IREI, and Bloomberg news reports. But, there are more things in heaven and earth than he has dreamt of in his philosophy.

Mr. Affleck holds an MA in Economics from Boston University—but he’s especially proud of his undergraduate degree in English Literature, with a focus on Shakespeare. He lives in Boston with his wife Sasha, and children Charlie and Lola.

DEDE LEA
Executive Vice President, Global Government Relations
Viacom Inc.

DeDe Lea was named Executive Vice President, Global Government Relations of Viacom Inc. in January 2006. Ms. Lea is responsible for setting public policy strategy at Viacom and leads the company’s worldwide government relations team. She is based in Washington, D.C. and reports directly to Viacom’s President & CEO.

Ms. Lea held senior Government Relations roles at the former Viacom Inc., a predecessor of the Company, from 1997 to 2004 and again from 2005 to 2006. She served as Vice President of Government Relations at Belo Corp. from 2004 to 2005.

Prior to joining Viacom, Ms. Lea held a variety of positions with the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), beginning as a legal intern in 1991 and ultimately serving as Senior Vice President of Government Relations. Prior to joining the NAB, Ms. Lea held sales and account executive positions with television and radio stations in Washington, D.C.
Ms. Lea has been named by Black Enterprise Magazine as one of the Most Powerful Executives in Corporate America. NY Moves Magazine named Ms. Lea one of its 2017 “Power Women” and she is a recipient of the NCTA Vanguard Award for Government and Community Relations. She currently serves on the Board of the Washington Hospital Center and the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation.

Ms. Lea received a Juris Doctorate from Georgetown University and received her undergraduate degree in broadcast management from Howard University in Washington, D.C.

J. KENDALL LOTT
President and CEO
M Powered Strategies, Inc.

With over 25 years of experience in the federal government and as a consultant, Kendall Lott is the CEO/President of M Powered Strategies, Inc, a change management consulting firm in Washington DC that supports organizations in public service. His professional background includes government service as a Presidential Management Fellow and as a career civil servant at the Departments of Agriculture and Justice, as well as service as a Peace Corps Volunteer (Micronesia). His government consulting career has included extensive tours in Jordan, India and Malaysia. His professional interests and experiences are in economic analysis of projects, business process reengineering and design, organizational change management, program design, and management coaching.

A certified Project Management Professional (PMP®), he served as a volunteer with Washington DC Chapter of the Project Management Institute (PMIWDC) for over a decade and was an active member of the board for 8 years. His volunteer roles include executive management, as he has been the COO and CEO of PMIWDC, the Executive Director of the Project Management Day of Service, the Chairman of the Board of the PM4Change non-profit organization, and the host and producer of the PM Point of View® podcast. In 2017, he completed a thru-hike of the 2,189-mile Appalachian Trail.

Mr. Lott is a Gallup certified StrengthFinders® coach, and a Myers Briggs Type Indicator coach. He holds a Master of International Relations from the School of Global Policy and Strategy at the University of California, San Diego, and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Political Science from Indiana University, Bloomington.

ABOUT THE SHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY
Recipient of the 2012 Regional Theatre Tony Award®, the Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC) is the nation’s leading premier classical theatre company. Today, STC is synonymous with artistic excellence and making classical theatre more accessible to audiences in and around the nation’s capital. Under the leadership of retiring Artistic Director Michael Kahn and Executive Director Chris Jennings, STC’s innovative productions inspire dialogue that connects classic works to the modern human experience. The Company focuses on works with profound themes, complex characters and poetic language written by Shakespeare, his contemporaries and the playwrights he influenced in order to preserve and promote classic theatre—ambitious, enduring plays with universal themes—for all audiences. With the arrival of new Artistic Director Simon Godwin, the Company’s mission develops with a three-year initiative to produce family-friendly theatre during the holidays, and an expansion of the definition of “classic” to include playwrights previously excluded from the canon of Classical theatre to produce high quality, exciting, inclusive theatre.

A leader in arts education, STC has a stable of initiatives that teach and excite learners of all ages, from school programs and adult acting classes to accessible community programming like play-relevant discussion series and the Free for All. For the past 27 years the Free For All program has offered an annual remount of a popular production completely free of charge to all audience members.

Located in downtown Washington, D.C., STC performs in two theatres, the 451-seat Lansburgh Theatre and the 774-seat Sidney Harman Hall. In addition to STC productions appearing year-round, these spaces also accommodate presentations from outstanding local performing arts groups and nationally renowned organizations. The Company has been a fixture in the vibrant Penn Quarter neighborhood since 1992.