Victor J. Montilla Torres

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Víctor Montilla Torres was born on May 26, 1970.

He graduated from high school in 1998 from Colegio Maristas, in Guaynabo. In 1992 he earned a Bachelor’s degree in Communication Arts, with a concentration in production, from Loyola University in New Orleans.

From 1990 on, Montilla participated in several internships: as Public Relations Assistant for Triple S; as floor director for NBC Sports in New Orleans; as editor at Guastella Films; and as production assistant at Cordero Teleproducciones, among others.

By 1992 he had established himself back in Puerto Rico and had begun his successful career, working at Cordero Teleproducciones with Paquito Cordero, one of the most important producers in Puerto Rico.

The experience accumulated alongside Cordero opened the door to new challenges and opportunities. In the year 2000, Montilla founded Montilla Television Group, where he created and produced the first animated situation comedy, Los del Barrio. The show attracted the attention and support of the advertising industry and conquered the audience in its scheduled time. Later on he created and produced En Casa de Luis Raúl, a “late night talk show” that marked the return to the local screen of a well loved comedian and integrated the use of the Internet, achieving a new level of interaction with the audience.

Also in the year 2000, Montilla joined the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, Suncoast Chapter. In joining this important organization he hoped to find new opportunities for the development of local production, as well as the internationalization and recognition of Puerto Rican production. His efforts have been lauded by his Puerto Rican colleagues, as well as by the Academy – he was unanimously elected as Vice-president of the Chapter for Puerto Rico and re-elected in the year 2005. In those first four years Puerto Rico obtained more than 30 nominations, winning 20 of them. He led the efforts to bestow the Silver Circle Award to Tommy Muñiz and Paquito Cordero, important figures who have contributed to the local television industry for more than 25 years.

In 2003 he accepted the challenge to join the Puerto Rico Public Broadcasting Corporation as executive producer of the En Todas de TUTV and was able to successfully positioning the show as an information and entertainment magazine for women.

Big challenges are part of big dreams and Montilla embraced both when, in 2005, he was designated as President of the Puerto Rico Public Broadcasting Corporation, heading two television stations and two radio stations. He immediately set important goals that became the center of his tenure: the pursuit of excellence and the exportation of Puerto Rican productions. It was his intention to maintain and further expand and develop the Corporation’s production area and establish the way to financial independence for the institution, which, up until now, had heavily depended on legislative funding.

At the moment Montilla is immersed in establishing a Fundraising Department that will aid in the development of larger scale local productions, the acquisition of better resources, as well as support the Corporation’s move towards self sufficiency and the permanence of production opportunities in Puerto Rico. Montilla has also offered support to other areas of the Corporation, as is evidenced in the 25%+ increment in revenues obtained by the Marketing and External Resources Department in the first ten months of his tenure. Thanks to broadcasting licensing agreements reached with Televicentro, for the first time in the history of TUTV, Channels 6 and 3, projects conceived by the Lucy Boscana Dramatic Program have reached audiences in different viewing segments, generating additional income for TUTV.

Montilla also led the multi-agency effort that resulted in the allocation of funds that kept the Corporation’s Radio Drama Workshop open, as part of a new programming schedule.

The audience levels of Allegro 91.3FM and 940AM – the Corporation’s radio stations - increased by 300% thanks to a restructuring of facilities and programming that begun in October of 2005.

In other fronts, Montilla was able to keep Proyecto de Comunicación (Communications Project - one of the Corporation’s community initiatives) alive, even though new resources and funds were not assigned to the project. Today, Proyecto de Comunicación continues to fulfill its commitment to the community, leaving its mark in 78 counties of our island. This has been possible thanks to responsible administration practices and the visionary outlook that has marked Montilla’s tenure as President. As part of his goal to expand the reach of Puerto Rican programming beyond our shores, Montilla negotiated an unprecedented agreement with Televicentro-WAPAmerica to broadcast TUTV’s shows in key Hispanic markets throughout the United States. And just as our programming is reaching far and wide, Montilla’s achievements have also transcended. In December 2006 he became the first Puerto Rican to receive the Governor’s Award, the highest honor bestowed by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, for his tireless efforts and work on behalf of the Puerto Rican television industry. He was also voted Television Executive of the Year by AdNotas.com.