Board of Directors
Vince Benedetto is the Founder, President, and CEO of Bold Gold Media Group, which owns and operates fourteen full power radio stations and twenty-five broadcast frequencies throughout Pennsylvania and New York. Vince is a graduate of the United States Air Force Academy, a former Air Force Captain and Air Force OSI Special Agent, where he specialized in counter-intelligence, counter-terrorism and felony level investigative efforts for the Department of Defense. With a desire to be a media entrepreneur, he separated from the Air Force and formed Bold Gold, where his growing portfolio of radio stations have become leaders in social & digital media engagement. Vince has frequently been named as one of Radio’s Top 20 Leaders by Radio Ink Magazine. Outside of work he enjoys a passion for writing and speaking about American and military history, as well as writing and producing music. He is the President of the Churchill Society of Pennsylvania and serves on the Radio Advertising Bureau’s (RAB) Sales Advisory Committee (SAC). Vince is the current Chairman of the Joint Board for the Pennsylvania Association of Broadcasters (PAB).
Philip J. Boeckman is Managing Partner of the London office of Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP and Co-Head of the Firm’s Capital Markets Practice for EMEA. He has been based in Cravath’s London office since 2000, when he relocated to London from the Firm’s New York office. Mr. Boeckman’s general corporate practice covers capital markets, including IPOs, rights issuances and other equity offerings, U.S. listings and high-yield bridge, bond and other leveraged financings, as well as mergers and acquisitions. He has represented many of Cravath’s European corporate clients, the major investment banks in the U.S. and Europe, and several private equity firms. Mr. Boeckman has been repeatedly recognized as one of the leading practitioners in capital markets by Chambers The Legal 500, IFLR and other publications. He was ranked as the top corporate lawyer for EMEA in 2019 in Legal Week magazine and been named to The Legal 500 UK Hall of Fame in the High‑Yield Bond category. Mr. Boeckman serves on the Board of Trustees of Westminster College, is the Senior Fellow of America’s National Churchill Museum and serves on the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of the International Churchill Society. He received a B.A. cum laude from Westminster College in 1988 and a J.D. magna cum laude from the University of Missouri in 1991, where he was a Notes Editor of the Law Review. Mr. Boeckman joined Cravath in 1991 and was elected a partner in 1998. Philip and his wife Erin (a 1988 graduate of William Woods University in Fulton) have four children.
Jack Bovender
Director
Jack O. Bovender, Jr. is retired Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Nashville, Tenn.- based Hospital Corporation of America, the nation’s leading provider of healthcare services. HCA has 163 hospitals and 105 Ambulatory Surgery Centers in the United States and England.
Bovender is a 40-year veteran of the healthcare industry and has worked at HCA for 32 years. He began his hospital administrative career in 1969 as a lieutenant in the United States Navy stationed at the Naval Regional Medical Center in Portsmouth, Va. He later served as Chief Executive Officer of Medical Center Hospital in Largo, Fla., and West Florida Regional Medical Center in Pensacola, both owned by HCA.
Bovender is a vice chair of the Duke University Board of Trustees and a member of the Executive Committee, the Duke University Health System Board, and the Board of Visitors at the Fuqua School of Business at Duke. Bovender received Duke University’s Distinguished Alumni Award in 2012. In addition, Bovender is a former member of Duke University Divinity School’s Board of Visitors and former chairman of the Duke University Divinity School Capital Campaign Committee. In 2012, he was elected to the Board of Directors of Bank of America.
He received his bachelor’s degree in psychology from Duke University in 1967 and his master’s degree in hospital administration from Duke University in 1969. Bovender and his wife, Barbara, live in Nashville.
Jack Churchill OBE is proud to be the Co-Founder & CEO of Scanning Pens. He holds a BSc in Information Systems & Publishing from Oxford Brookes University. He established the assistive technology company Scanning Pens 18 years ago because he’s passionate about technology being a great enabler. Being dyslexic himself, Jack is determined to help young people and adults with reading difficulties reach their potential. For many years Scanning Pens technology has been used in education both in classrooms and exams, but is now being used in the workplace and even in correctional facilities. In recent years Scanning Pens has been fortunate enough to win a number of prominent awards including BETT Company of the Year 2020 and the Queen's Award for Enterprise 2021 for International Trade. Jack is proud to be a board member of the International Churchill Society, British Assistive Technology Association (BATA) and the US Assistive Technology Industry Association (ATIA) and be a Department for International Trade Export Champ. He lives near Bath in Wiltshire with his wife Charlotte and three children.
Randolph Leonard Spencer Churchill was born two days before the death of his great grandfather Sir Winston. He attended Harrow and served five years in the Royal Navy and now works in the City of London. Randolph has been a Trustee of the Winston Churchill Memorial fund, the Armed Forces Investment Company and also the War Memorial Trust. He lives with his family in Kent, not far from Chartwell.
Robert C. Daum is a retired investment banker and active nonprofit leader with longstanding interests in history, preservation, and public service. He began his career at Dillon Read and concluded it as a managing director and group head at UBS Warburg Dillon Read, specializing in capital markets, IPOs, mergers and acquisitions, and client development; he later served as CFO of ELOT, Inc.. He has held major leadership roles across the nonprofit sector, including board service with the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, VNS Health, Royal Oak Foundation, and as Chairman Emeritus of the American Battlefield Trust. A longtime underwriting member of Lloyd's of London, he is also affiliated with Insurance Capital Partners and serves on the committee of American Friends of Westminster Abbey. He holds degrees from Colgate University and Harvard Business School and is a patron of the National Army Museum.
Jim Drury Is President of the Churchill Society of Tennessee and a lifelong Churchillian. He was born in London, England and emigrated with his family to the United States in the 1960s. In 1975 he began a forty-year long career in aviation when he joined the United States Air Force where he received a degree in Aerospace Science and pilot certificate. After separating from the USAF, Jim went to work for the Federal Aviation Administration in the Air Traffic Division. His last FAA assignment prior to retirement was as Chief of Air Traffic Control at Nashville International Airport. During his working career, Jim also served as a Major in the Tennessee State Guard aviation branch. Jim is a bagpiper and is the Pipe Major of the 17th Lancers Pipes and Drums. He composed a march in honor of Sir Winston Churchill which he performed along with the guard of honor during VE-Day graveside ceremonies at Bladon, Oxfordshire in 2022.
Michael T. Franken is a retired three-star admiral with more than 36 years of service in the United States Navy. A native of rural Iowa, he earned technical degrees from the University of Nebraska College of Engineering and the Naval Postgraduate School, and completed executive education at the Brookings Institution, the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology Seminar XXI program, and the University of Virginia’s Darden School.
Admiral Franken held senior leadership positions spanning strategy, national security, legislative affairs, and international operations. His assignments included serving as the inaugural Director of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), Chief of Legislative Affairs for the Department of the Navy, Vice Director for Strategy,
Plans and Policy (J5) at U.S. Central Command, and Commander of Combined Joint Task Force–Horn of Africa. He also served as Deputy for Military Operations at U.S. Africa Command, where he helped strengthen security partnerships across the African continent.
A career surface warfare officer, Admiral Franken commanded at sea throughout his naval service and had the unique distinction of serving as the first commanding officer of the USS Winston S. Churchill (DDG-81), the only active U.S. Navy warship named for a foreign statesman. Following his retirement from the Navy, Vice Admiral Franken has continued his commitment to public service
through strategic consulting and civic engagement.
He brings to the International Churchill Society Board of Directors extensive expertise in leadership, international
affairs, strategic partnerships, and national security
Catherine Grace Katz is a writer and historian from Winnetka, IL. She graduated from Harvard in 2013 with a BA in History and received her MPhil in Modern European History from Christ’s College, Cambridge in 2014. After graduating, Catherine worked in finance in New York City before a very fortuitous visit to the bookstore in the lobby of her office in Manhattan led her to return to history and writing. She received her JD from Harvard Law School in May 2023 and is an associate at an international law firm in Washington, D.C. Her first book, The Daughters of Yalta: The Churchills, Roosevelts, and Harrimans: A Story of Love and War, was named one of Publishers Weekly‘s Best Books of 2020 and the Telegraph's Best History Books of 2020. Her second book, Shadow Before the Flame: The Hindenburg Disaster and the Prelude to War, is forthcoming from Viking.
Bob Kelly was Chairman and CEO of The Bank of New York Mellon, Chairman and CEO of Mellon Bank Corporation, Chief Financial Officer of Wachovia Corporation, and Vice-Chairman of Toronto-Dominion Bank. He was on the board of S&P Global, Lead Independent Director of IHS Markit, and Chairperson of the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.
Mr. Kelly previously served as President of the Federal Advisory Council of the Federal Reserve Board and Chancellor of Saint Mary's University in Canada.
Mr. Kelly holds a B.Comm. from Saint Mary's University, an MBA from University of London, and a C.P.A.
Deborah. Lindsay graduated summa cum laude with a degree in military history and serves on various boards including the National WWII Museum, the Museum of History and Holocaust Education, the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, and America's National Churchill Museum (where she is a Churchill Fellow). She lives in the Atlanta area with her two Basset Hounds.
Donald P. Lofe, Jr., officially assumed the role of President and Chief Transformation Officer at Westminster College in Fulton, MO, on July 1, 2021. After a unanimous vote, the College’s Board of Trustees officially announced Mr. Lofe as the historic college’s 23rd president in April, citing the major progress the 170-year-old liberal arts college made in the last year under his leadership as Interim President, even during an exceptionally challenging year and in the midst of the pandemic.
A 1979 Westminster College graduate, Mr. Lofe previously served on Westminster’s Board of Trustees for approximately eight years in a variety of capacities, including Board Chair, throughout his Board tenure. Mr. Lofe serves on the Board as an ex-officio member, consistent with the historic practice for the role of the College’s president. Prior to his appointment at the College as Interim President and Chief Transformation Officer in 2020, Mr. Lofe was a Partner and the Chief Risk Officer for Global Business Services – Mortgage and Lending Solutions for the IBM Corporation based in San Francisco, CA.
Mr. Lofe served in several senior executive roles for insurance, community lending, and other financial and mortgage-related service entities, both domestically and internationally, before his tenure with the IBM Corporation. He was a Partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, specializing in financial services and private and public higher-education clientele. Mr. Lofe is a CPA, CGMA (Active Status) and is also COSO Certified by the AICPA. He was named by Treasury and Risk, a leading corporate finance and treasury periodical, as one of the 100 Most Influential People in Finance.
Mr. Lofe was awarded Westminster’s Lifetime Alumni Achievement Award in 2010. He received bachelor’s degrees in Accounting and Political Science from Westminster and an MBA, with concentrations in Finance and Business Policy, from The University of Chicago.
Jean-Paul Montupet is Chair of the International Churchill Society. He is a Cornell Capital Senior Advisor and the former Executive Vice President of Emerson Electric Company, a global engineering services leader serving the industrial, commercial and consumer sectors. He previously served as the Chairman of Emerson Electric Industrial Automation and President of Emerson Europe.
Since 2002, among other roles, Mr. Montupet has served on the Board of PartnerRe, a leading global reinsurer. He is also Lead Director of WABCO Holdings.
Mr. Montupet has considerable expertise in industrial automation and technology. He advises Cornell Capital in connection with its evaluation of investment opportunities, including its investment in PureStar Linen Group, in which he serves on its Board of Directors.
Mr. Montupet received an M.B.A. from École des Hautes Études Commerciales de Paris.
Bob Muehlhauser, retired from his career within the Finance industry. He was EVP & Managing Director of Bank of America’s Global Corporate and Investment Bank retiring as head of Banc of America Securities’ USA mid-cap Investment Banking businesses from where Strategic Advisory and Debt & Equity Capital Raising services were provided for private and public companies.
Bob has served in a variety of leadership positions in the nonprofit sector. He is a Trustee Emeritus, former Board Chair, and has been awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri. He is Director Emeritus of the San Francisco Zoological Society. was a senior advisor to the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation (Biomedical Engineering) in Miami, Florida, a Trustee of The Leakey Foundation (Paleo Anthropology) in San Francisco, an Elder in his church and a member the Boards of the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago and San Francisco’s Exploratorium.
He was elected a Fellow of the Association of Churchill Fellows at America’s National Churchill Museum and is currently the Chair of the International Churchill Society Board’s Development Committee.
Bob and his wife, Regina, live in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Harold B. (Hal) Oakley is Chairman of the law firm of Schmiedeskamp Robertson Neu & Mitchell LLP in Quincy, Illinois. His practice focuses on business transactions and estate planning and administration. He is a graduate of Westminster College, Fulton, Missouri and the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law. He is a candidate for a Masters in Tax Law at Washington University of St. Louis School of Law. Oakley has served as Chair of the Board of Trustees of Westminster College, a member of the Board of Governors of America’s National Churchill Museum, and a member of the ICS Board of Directors, in addition to service to other charitable organizations including the Illinois Equal Justice Foundation and the Lincoln Academy of Illinois.
Lee Pollock is a writer and speaker on Winston Churchill and the former Executive Director of The International Churchill Society. His articles have been published in the Wall Street Journal, the New Criterion, American Purpose and the Daily Beast and he has appeared on CBS, the BBC and other media outlets in the U.S. and Britain. Lee has spoken about Churchill's legacy and leadership in the U.S. Capitol, the Pentagon and the Supreme Court as well as at leading universities, museums, non-profit institutions and private clubs. He is a native of Montreal, Canada, a graduate of McGill University and holds a master's degree from the University of Chicago. Lee is a Fellow of the National Churchill Museum and a recipient of the International Churchill Society's Chartwell Award.
Stephen Poss, a member of the Board of Directors and a Vice Chair of the International Churchill Society, has collected books by and about Winston Churchill for 30 years. Before retiring in 2018, he enjoyed a 37-year career at two of America’s leading law firms, first at Cravath, Swaine & Moore and later at Goodwin Procter LLP, where as a Senior Partner he helped to build Goodwin’s Securities Litigation and SEC Enforcement Practice and served as the practice group’s Chair.
He is a former Co-Chair of the Securities Litigation Subcommittee of the American Bar Association Section of Business Law. He has lectured extensively across the United States, as well as in France and the UK, on securities, corporate governance, and transactional issues for organizations such as the American Bar Association, NASDAQ, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), The SEC Institute, Inc., and The Law Society of England and Wales.
Steve and his wife, Jane F. Poss, a former business reporter for The Boston Globe, are the creators and sponsors of the Stephen and Jane Poss Distinguished Churchill Lecture Series at the International Churchill Society, which began in 2021.
Steve is a graduate of Amherst College and The University of Chicago Law School. Steve and Jane now live in the Cascade Mountains of Central Oregon.
Baron Roberts of Belgravia is the Roger and Martha Mertz Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution. Professor Andrew Roberts took a first in modern history from Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, from where he is an Honorary Senior Scholar and PhD. His book, The Storm of War: A New History of the Second World War (2009) reached number two on the Sunday Times bestseller list, and Napoleon the Great won the Los Angeles Times Biography Prize, the Grand Prix of the Fondation Napoléon, and became a New York Times bestseller. He won the Bradley Prize in 2016. His biography of Winston Churchill, Churchill: Walking with Destiny, was published by Penguin in November 2018.
Lord Roberts is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and of the Royal Historical Society; an honorary Doctor of Humane Literature; a Trustee of the Margaret Thatcher Archive Trust and of the National Portrait Gallery; chairman of the Guggenheim-Lehrman Military Book Prize; the Lehrman Institute Distinguished Fellow at the New-York Historical Society; and a visiting professor of the War Studies Department of King’s College, London. He reviews history books for over a dozen newspapers and periodicals. In November 2022, Andrew was elevated to the House of Lords as Baron Roberts of Belgravia.
His website can be found at andrew-roberts.net.
Adam Howard, Ph.D., is Executive Director of the International Churchill Society ICS), where he leads the organization's global efforts to advance the study of Sir Winston Churchill's life, leadership, and enduring legacy. He oversees the Society's strategic direction, educational programming, publications, membership, development, conferences, and international partnerships.
Before joining the International Churchill Society, Dr. Howard served as Director of the Office of the Historian at the U.S. Department of State, where he led the office responsible for producing the Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS) series, the official documentary record of U.S. foreign policy. A member of the Senior Executive Service, he directed a team of historians and specialists, modernized the Office's digital capabilities and public outreach, strengthened partnerships with academic and government institutions, and launched the Department's first oral history program. He also championed the use of "applied history," regularly briefing senior Department leaders on historical precedents to help inform contemporary foreign policy decisions.
Dr. Howard earned his Ph.D. in history and is a published author whose scholarship focuses on U.S. foreign relations, the Anglo-American relationship, and the modern Middle East. He is the author of Sewing the Fabric of Statehood: Garment Unions, American Labor, and the Establishment of the State of Israel and has compiled multiple volumes in the Foreign Relations of the United States series. For more than two decades, he has also taught international history and U.S. foreign relations at the university level.
Throughout his career, Dr. Howard has worked at the intersection of scholarship, public history, education, and institutional leadership. As Executive Director of ICS, he is committed to expanding the Society's educational reach, strengthening its membership and donor community, growing its digital presence, and developing innovative programs that demonstrate the enduring relevance of Churchill's leadership and ideas for audiences around the world.
