Reorganization at Illinois Public Media removes Bresnahan as executive director

Maurice “Moss” Bresnahan is no longer executive director of Illinois Public Media in Urbana following a reorganization at the station.

Station staffers learned of the change Tuesday from an email to employees, according to a news story published by the station. Officials at the College of Media at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the station’s licensee, are moving Bresnahan to an advisory role within the college.

“IPM is part of the College of Media, and there were simply differences of opinion in vision and strategy for IPM’s future,” Bresnahan said in an email to Current. “The reorganization unfolded in line with the dean’s vision for IPM. I’m looking forward to staying involved in public media in my new capacity, and happy to continue to be a part of the University of Illinois system.”

University officials have not responded to requests for comment.

As part of the change, John Steinbacher, director of development, and Lillie Duncanson, director of broadcast operations, were promoted to co-executive directors. They will step into their roles Sunday.

“We are incredibly excited to begin our new roles at Illinois Public Media,” Steinbacher and Duncanson said in a joint email statement to Current. “We are grateful to the College of Media and the University of Illinois for their confidence in the current staff and direction of IPM, and for promoting two long-time employees who together bring more than 34 years of experience within the organization.”

“We want to extend our heartfelt thanks to Moss Bresnahan for his years of leadership at IPM and his long-term dedication to public media and its essential role in our society,” they added.

Bresnahan said that in his advisory role, he hopes to “get students here interested in the next generation of public media. And since I love IPM, I’ll continue to do whatever I can to support its programming and staff.”