Our People

Board of Directors and Senior Advisor, 2022-2023

  • Will Ball, Retired, Director of the Caterpillar Foundation, Dunlap, IL
  • Greg Cassidy, Chief Operating Officer, TCRC, Tremont, IL
  • Gary Gillis, Retired, Edward Jones Financial Advisor
  • Lincoln "Linc" Hobson, Tazewell County Clerk, Pekin, IL
  • Dakota Horn, Lecturer and Course Director, Communications Department, Bradley University, Peoria, IL
  • Dennis Kief, Public Administration Consultant, Pekin, IL
  • Emily Lambe, Programming and PR Manager, Pekin, IL
  • Carol Merna, Chief Executive Officer, Center for Prevention of Abuse, Peoria, IL
  • Shaun Newell, Vice President/General Manager, WMBD/WYZZ-TV, Peoria, IL
  • Mike O'Grady, Owner, Prairie Enterprises LLC, Hudson, IL
  • Stacy Peterson, Strategic Communications Manager, City of Peoria, Peoria, IL
  • Don Shafer, Peoria, Illinois Central College, East Peoria, IL
  • Debbie Simon, Retired President and CEO, Unity Point Health, Central IL, Peoria, IL
  • Vicki Tilton, Partner, Fox and Hounds, Bloomington, IL
  • John Unland, The Unland Company, Edwards, CO

Officers

  • Denny Kief, President
  • Dakota Horn, Vice President
  • Gary Gillis, Treasurer
  • Greg Cassidy, Secretary

Senior Advisor

  • Hon. Ray LaHood, Retired

National Advisory Council

  • Jeffrey Bernstein, Professor of Political Science, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, MI
  • C. Lawrence “Larry” Evans, Newton Family Professor of Government, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg VA
  • Richard Hunt, Director of the Center for Legislative Archives, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington DC
  • KC Johnson, American History Professor, Brooklyn College and the City University of New York Graduate Center, Brooklyn, NY
  • Frank H. Mackaman, Historian Emeritus, The Dirksen Congressional Center
  • Sheryl Vogt, Director of the Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies, University of Georgia, Athens GA
  • Nancy Beck Young, Professor of History, University of Houston

Staff

Contact Information

The Dirksen Congressional Center
2815 Broadway
Pekin, Illinois 61554
309.347.7113