Heartland Board of Trustees seats new members

Heartland Community College has seated new and returning members to the District 540 Board of Trustees. 

Incumbent trustee Janet Hood of Normal begins her second full term on the Board. She was appointed to a partial term in 2017 and was elected to her first full six-year term in 2019. She has served as Vice-Chair since 2020 and on the Finance Committee since 2017. She has served the Illinois Community College Trustees Association in several roles, including East Central Region Chair (2021-2023), chair of the Government Relations and Public Policy Committee (2023-2024), and currently as Treasurer. Hood has worked for several healthcare and human service organizations in central Illinois and is a housing navigator with Mid Central Community Action. 

Thomas Whitt of Bloomington also begins his second full term on the Board. Whitt was elected in 2019 and has served as a Board representative to the Illinois Community College Trustees Association, where he serves on the Diversity Committee. Thomas is a CT Technologist at OSF St. Joseph Hospital. 

New to the Board is Laurie Bergner, of Normal, a clinical psychologist and Director of Education for the League of Women Voters of McLean County. She is involved in several community organizations, including the Immigration Project. 

Bergner was elected to fill a seat vacated by long-term trustee Jeffrey Flessner, who resigned from his expiring term in December 2024. 

At the April 22, 2025, regular meeting, the Board and executive leadership of the College also extended thanks to Jon Kilgore, who was appointed to fill the remainder of Flessner’s seat from December 2024 to April 2025. Kilgore did not seek election for the full term on the Board.

 Aemun Lopeyok was selected to serve as Student Trustee by the Heartland Student Government Association. Aemun, who is studying Computer Science, served as Student Government Association President for the 2024-2025 term and will represent students on the Board of Trustees for the upcoming term, which runs from April 2025 to April 2026.