Gov. Pritzker Announces Five Appointments to State Boards

Building on a strong team of diverse experts in their fields, Governor JB Pritzker announced the following appointments in his administration:

 
ILLINOIS BOARD OF HIGHER EDUCATION

Clarence Wyatt will serve on the Illinois Board of Higher Education.* Dr. Wyatt became the 14th president of Monmouth College on July 1, 2014. Under his leadership, the College has attracted a more geographically diverse and academically gifted student body, risen in national rankings and developed several new academic programs, including a major STEM initiative that includes majors in data science, engineering and neuroscience. He came to Monmouth from Centre College, where he was Chief Planning Officer and Special Assistant to the President, and also the holder of the Pottinger Distinguished Professorship of History. Dr. Wyatt is a founding member of Presidents United to Solve Hunger (PUSH), a United Nations-sponsored coalition of more than 60 colleges and universities worldwide united to fight against hunger and malnutrition. His more than 40-year career in higher education began at Centre, where he played a key role in helping that college rise to a prominent place among national liberal arts colleges. He received his Bachelor of Arts in English and History from Centre College and his Master of Arts and Ph. D. in American History from the University of Kentucky.

 
ILLINOIS COMMUNITY COLLEGE BOARD

Lazaro Lopez will continue to serve as Chair of the Illinois Community College Board.* Dr. Lopez serves as Associate Superintendent for Teaching and Learning at High School District 214 in Arlington Heights, Illinois. U.S. News & World Report, Newsweek, and the Washington Post as "America's Best High Schools" have recognized each of the six comprehensive high schools serving 12,000 students. Dr. Lopez led the effort to operationalize the integration of STEM, 21st-century skills, and career pathways within a comprehensive high school. He also currently serves as Board Secretary for the Partnership for College Completion and member of the Northwest Educational Council for Educational Success. Prior to his leadership in education, Dr. Lopez served as a training non-commissioned officer in the U.S. Army. He earned his Doctorate of Education in Curriculum and Instruction from Aurora University, Master of Arts Degree in Educational Administration from Roosevelt University, a Bachelor of Science Degree in Communication and English from Illinois State University, and an Associate of Arts Degree from the College of DuPage.
 

ILLINOIS CRIMINAL JUSTICE INFORMATION AUTHORITY

Kahalah Clay will serve on the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority.* Clay was appointed to the office of Circuit Clerk in January of 2011 and elected to the office of Circuit Clerk in November 2012. Prior to being appointed Circuit Clerk, she was an Assistant State's Attorney with the St. Clair County State's Attorney's Office. As an attorney, Clay was a full-time public defender as well as a Family Law solo practitioner. In her current role as Clerk of the Circuit Court, Clay has continued to advance the Office in the areas of technology and digitization. She was the 2nd of 102 Circuit Clerks in the state to be approved by the Illinois Supreme Court for a permanent E-filing Program including all Civil case types in 2013. Clay was also recently approved by the High Court to E-file Criminal case types and Electronic Citations. Clay also sits on the Executive Board for the Illinois Association of Court Clerks and currently serves as President. A native of East St. Louis, Clay attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Indiana University School of Law - Indianapolis.
 
Vickie Smith will serve on the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority.* Smith began her work in the battered women's movement in 1982 by providing emergency safe housing to survivors of domestic violence. She helped open a non-residential crisis intervention program, first serving on the Board of Directors and then serving as the first non-paid director. Smith joined the staff of the Illinois Coalition Against Domestic Violence in March 1988 as a grant monitor and then became executive director in 1993. She has also done work in the gender-based, anti-violence movement on the national level. Smith is a founding Board member of the National Network to End Domestic Violence, a national advocacy agency located in Washington D.C. During the development of the National Network, she worked with other state and national advocates on drafting the historic 1994 Violence Against Women Act, which has had a significant impact on services for people who experience domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking. In 1999, she moved to Texas where she joined the National Center on Domestic and Sexual Violence and participated in technical assistance and training all over the United States. Smith resumed the position of Executive Director of ICADV in August 2008. Her wide-ranging experience has allowed her to build a variety of collaborative projects and programs over the decades to work toward ending violence in homes and communities. Smith received her Bachelor of Arts in Child, Family and Community Services from Sangamon State University, now known as the University of Illinois at Springfield.

ILLINOIS WORKERS' COMPENSATION MEDICAL FEE ADVISORY BOARD

David Fletcher will serve on the Illinois Workers' Compensation Medical Fee Advisory Board.* Dr. Fletcher is the Medical Director and CEO of SafeWorks Illinois, a private occupational medicine practice located in Champaign, Illinois. He has distinguished himself as one of the leading medical experts on the Illinois Workers' Compensation system. Since 2011, Dr. Fletcher has served as the senior physician representative on the Workers' Compensation Research Institute (WCRI) Illinois Advisory Committee. He previously served on the Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission (IWCC) Medical Fee Advisory Board (MFAB) from 2016-2018. He has taken care of more than 19,000 individual Illinois workers hurt on the job since 1985. Since 2014, Dr. Fletcher has been leading representative on workers' compensation issues for the Illinois State Medical Society (ISMS). He graduated from Rush Medical College and is board-certified in occupational and preventive medicine.
 
* Appointments pending confirmation by the Illinois Senate.