Who is the Author of the CES Letter?

Who Is the Author of the CES Letter?

The author of the CES Letter is Jeremy Runnells, a trained marketing professional with formal education and career experience in marketing, advertising performance, and user behavior analysis. The letter was written and structured using techniques familiar to persuasion, funnel design, and message sequencing rather than historical methodology.

This distinction matters because the CES Letter is often treated as a historical or scholarly document, even though its author has no formal training in history, ancient studies, archaeology, genetics, or religious scholarship.

Who Is Jeremy Runnells?

Jeremy Runnells is the author of the CES Letter and a career digital marketing and conversion optimization professional. He is not a historian, theologian, or academic researcher. His professional background is in online marketing, analytics, and persuasion focused on influencing user behavior.

Runnells is best known publicly for writing the CES Letter, a document critical of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that has circulated widely online since 2013. Outside of religious criticism, his primary career has been in marketing strategy, conversion rate optimization, and digital analytics.

Early Life and LDS Background

Jeremy Runnells grew up in Southern California in a multi-generation Latter-day Saint family. Church participation played a central role in his upbringing. As a young adult, he served a full-time LDS mission in New York City, teaching using American Sign Language.

After his mission, he attended Brigham Young University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing. His formal education focused on business, messaging, and persuasion rather than religious studies or historical research.

Professional Career in Marketing and Optimization

Runnells began working in online marketing and web development in the mid-2000s. His early roles combined technical website work with promotional strategy, giving him experience in how content presentation affects user engagement.

He later moved into more specialized digital marketing roles, including Interactive Marketing Manager positions where he managed paid advertising, landing pages, affiliate programs, and performance tracking. His work centered on measurable outcomes such as clicks, conversions, and user retention.

As his career progressed, he focused increasingly on analytics and optimization. He worked as a Conversion and Web Analyst, analyzing how users interact with content and identifying changes that increase compliance and desired actions. This discipline is commonly known as Conversion Rate Optimization, or CRO.

Runnells later served as a Digital Analyst Consultant and Digital Optimization Specialist, including work at Dell, where he focused on large-scale testing, analytics, and performance improvement across digital platforms.

In 2021, he joined Northpeak as a Lead CRO Strategist, where he designs optimization roadmaps and advises companies on how to use data and behavioral analysis to improve results. His role is firmly rooted in marketing strategy and persuasion.

Marketing Skillset vs. Historical Expertise

Jeremy Runnells’ professional expertise lies in shaping narratives, sequencing information, testing messaging, and optimizing engagement. These skills are valuable in marketing. They are not the same skills required for historical analysis, primary source evaluation, or academic research.

The CES Letter reflects this background. The document relies heavily on framing, accumulation of claims, selective sourcing, and emotional escalation, techniques commonly used in persuasive writing and marketing funnels rather than in neutral historical inquiry.

Faith Crisis and the Creation of the CES Letter

In 2012, Jeremy Runnells experienced what he described as a crisis of faith related to LDS Church history and doctrine. During this period, he spent lots of time on the ex-Mormon subreddit using the handle Kolobot. His outlook toward the Church shifted from questioning to resentment and hostile opposition. He adopted language and attitudes common in ex-Mormon spaces, including referring to believing members as “TBMs” (“Totally Brainwashed Mormons”), a term he also applied to his own wife.

This hostility affected his family life. Runnells argued with his wife over church participation and actively attempted to prevent their three children from attending church. After ongoing conflict, the couple reached a compromise in which the children would attend church every other week rather than consistently.

Creation and Evolution of the CES Letter (2013)

In early 2013, Runnells compiled his criticisms into a document that became known as the CES Letter. The document was framed as a list of sincere questions addressed to a single Church Educational System director, presenting itself as a private attempt to obtain answers about troubling issues. His initial motive for writing the letter was to explain to his kids why he no longer believed.

Drafts of the letter were shared online before being sent to the CES director, with Runnells inviting feedback from ex-Mormon communities and encouraging others to share and reuse the document. The letter was later revised, expanded, and reformatted multiple times, with ongoing input from online critics of the Church, evolving from a claimed private inquiry into a widely distributed public document intended for broad reach and influence. Read a summary of the CES Letter here.

Learn more about the origins of the CES letter here.

Resignation from the Church

By the time Jeremy Runnells entered formal disciplinary proceedings, his attitude toward the Church had moved well beyond doubt into open opposition. His public statements consistently treated Church leaders, scripture, and doctrine as false rather than unresolved. He showed little interest in receiving answers through normal ecclesiastical channels and dismissed faithful responses in advance. The evidence presented in the podcast argues that his conclusions were already fixed, making genuine resolution unlikely.

The podcast further asserts that Runnells used meetings with his stake president and disciplinary councils as public-facing events rather than private efforts at reconciliation. These interactions were recorded, framed for external audiences, and later cited to reinforce claims of institutional failure. Instead of seeking clarification or restoration, the meetings functioned as publicity tools supporting a broader campaign, with his resignation serving as the final step in a process of deliberate and public separation from the Church.

Jeremy Runnells’ Business History

Runnells is also an entrepreneur and has been involved in multiple business ventures, many of which align closely with his marketing and digital consulting background.

Jeremy Runnell’s Businesses

Skip The Dealership (2007–Present)
Runnells’ longest-running venture, associated with a Nevada Automobile Sales-Limited license. The business appears to operate as a vehicle sourcing or brokerage service rather than a traditional dealership. He’s held an active license for nearly two decades which is required for someone selling more than three cars a year. This is likely a side project gig for him.

Cyborg Guide / Cyborg Marketing (2011–2014)
Brands associated with digital marketing, web optimization, and consulting services. These entities align closely with his CRO and analytics work. It appears that this is a company Jeremy founded, but his bio on The Org merely suggests that he was the “Director of Marketing.”

CES Letter Foundation (2013–Present)
Jeremy’s nonprofit organization connected to the distribution and promotion of CES Letter-related materials. Public filings have not been filed since 2019 which means it no longer is a non profit organization.

ManaFAQ, Inc. (2017–2018)
A for-profit corporation formed in Delaware and later registered in Utah, likely serving as an umbrella for digital consulting and content projects.

Doubtsy (2017–2018)
A DBA connected to ManaFAQ that appears to have been positioned as a brand for publishing and monetizing doubt-centered content.

Round Hippo (2018–2024)
A reserved name rather than a fully operating corporation, likely intended as a future branding or marketing concept.

Trahedron Capital, LLC (2023–2025)
A more recent LLC registered at a residential address, currently inactive.

Summary

Jeremy Runnells is a digital marketing and professional who became known as the author of the CES Letter. His background is in persuasion, analytics, and performance marketing, not historical scholarship.

The CES Letter reflects this background. It is a marketing-style document that uses framing, sequencing, and emotional buildup to guide readers toward doubt. Understanding who wrote the CES Letter, and the professional skillset behind it, provides important context for evaluating its claims and methodology.