Peoria, IL—WTVP, public television for central Illinois, welcomes Jon Cecil as Vice President, Enterprises. In this new position, Cecil is responsible for creating revenue-generating businesses based on the station’s production, satellite, broadcast and non-broadcast services.

"Federal and state support is always somewhat nebulous," says WTVP President & CEO Chet Tomczyk. "WTVP’s board of trustees has created this new position to augment traditional fundraising from regional charitable sources.”

Cecil comes to WTVP with 33 years of experience in the education and business side of public television. After working in Iowa’s public television network, Cecil moved to PBS’s national headquarters in Washington, DC. At PBS he developed the national education services and was chosen as the first director of PBS’s elementary/secondary service.

In 1985, his vision and leadership turned PBS VIDEO into a multi-million dollar revenue generating business for PBS and grew it into the largest distributor of public television programming in the nation. Cecil created and implemented initiatives and services that have made PBS’s educational videos accessible to home users, libraries, and schools and universities as videos, curriculum resources and web tools.

“Jon’s experience and creativity promise great results in this original role," says Tomcyzk.