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New Trustees for WIU Board

Governor J.B. Pritzker announced appointments Monday to fill the two vacancies on the Western Illinois University Board of Trustees.

The new BoT members are Patrick Twomey, Superintendent of the Macomb School District, and Carin Stutz, who most recently served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the Red Robin Gourmet Burger chain.

Both are WIU alumni. Their appointments must be confirmed by the Illinois Senate.

Western’s BoT is scheduled to meet Thursday and Friday of this week, which is homecoming week.

Twomey and Stutz will replace Nick Padgett and Jackie Thompson.  Pritzker appointed Padgett and Thompson in late March but withdrew their nominations in July. 

The governor's office declined to comment much on that decision, telling TSPR it was in the best interest of the WIU community to go in a different direction.

Here is what the governor’s office had to say about the new board members:

Carin Stutz 

Stutz most recently served as the EVP/COO of Red Robin overseeing operations across Canada and the United States. Previously, she served as President of McAlister’s Deli, as CEO and President of Cosi, and President of Global Business Development for Brinker International. Prior to joining Brinker, Stutz was Executive Vice President of Operations for Applebee's International, the Pacific Division Vice President for Wendy's International, served as Regional Operations Vice President for Sodexo, U.S.A., and was Vice President of Corporate Operations for NutriSystem, Inc. She is the former Chair of the Women’s Foodservice Forum and a member of the board of directors for Checkers and Rally’s Restaurants. Stutz holds a Bachelor of Science from Western Illinois University and Master of Business Administration from Mid-America Nazarene University.

Patrick Mark Twomey

Twomey currently serves as the Superintendent of Macomb School District #185. Twomey garnered national recognition for his work on the flipped classroom movement during his tenure as Superintendent of Havana School District #126. Previously, he has worked as a principal and teacher in various communities in Central and Southern Illinois, following 17 years in the plastics industry. Twomey received his Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership from Western Illinois University.   Through his doctoral studies, he created “The United States Rural School Safety Project,” designed to create safer learning environments in rural and small school districts throughout the nation.  His work was published in an article in the December 2012 edition of the Law Enforcement Executive Forum Magazine. 

Rich is TSPR's News Director.