WTVP-TV is adding 5 new board members as station continues changes

JJ Bullock, Peoria Journal Star
·2 min read
WTVP headquarters at 101 State Street in Peoria.

Five people will be added to the WTVP Board of Directors on Tuesday as a new board continues to take shape at the embattled public television station.

The five new members include an attorney, former WTVP president, a health company CEO, 2023's Miss Illinois and an award-winning educator.

In January, 11 WTVP board members resigned as the station navigated the fallout from a financial crisis and criminal investigation centered on the station's former CEO Lesley Matuszak.

Eight new board members were appointed a week later.

Here are the five new board members:

More: An in-depth look at WTVP's future and criminal investigation

Chet Tomczyk

Tomczyk was the CEO and president of WTVP for 18 years until his retirement in 2014. Before coming to Peoria in 1994, Tomczyk was the director of PBS' Elementary/Secondary at the PBS headquarters in Washington, D.C. He also works as a notary and auditor for the Catholic Diocese of Peoria.

Jessica Tilton

Tilton was the winner of the 2023 Miss Illinois pageant and is currently a medical student at Southern Illinois University. She graduated from Bradley University with both a bachelor's degree and a master's degree.

Tilton also coached color guard at Washington Community High School for eight years and currently works with organ donation programs across the state.

Robert Senneff

Senneff is the president and CEO of Graham Health System in Canton, Ill., a hospital system with 840 employees and over $300 million in annual revenues.

Prior to that, Senneff was in leadership at hospitals in Iowa and Kansas.

He also serves on nine other various board and committees, including the Illinois Hospital Association Political Action Committee.

Emily Galligan

Galligan is an attorney for Heyl, Royster, Voelker and Allen law firm in Peoria.

She serves on the Carle Health Center for Philanthropy board and used to be a board member for Destiny for Women Health Clinic and the Heart of Illinois Big Brothers Big Sisters.

Galligan was also an adjunct professor at Bradley University.

Kevin Hicks

Hicks is a 1989 graduate of Eureka College and an award-winning educator at Metamora Township High School.

Hicks has also directed over 30 plays and musicals and published a fiction novel "Quitter" in 2017.

More: WTVP is at the center of a financial crisis. Here's what we know so far

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: WTVP adding 5 new board members as station continues changes