Victor Montilla is Executive Vice President for Casiano Communications, the largest, most experienced Hispanic publisher of periodicals and magazines in the United States.
Born in 1970, Montilla graduated from high school in 1988 from Colegio Maristas, in Guaynabo. In 1992 he earned a Bachelor’s degree in Communication Arts, with a concentration in broadcast production, from Loyola University in New Orleans.
An avid media enthusiast and key player, former television producer, station president, consultant and entrepreneur, Montillabegan his career working at Cordero Teleproducciones with television pioneer, 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 the well loved comedian and integrated the use of the Internet, achieving a new level of interaction with the audience.
That same year, 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 years 2005 and 2009.
In 2003 he accepted Linda Hernández' challenge to join the Puerto Rico Public Broadcasting Corporation as executive producer of the, En Todas. and was able to successfully position the show as an information and entertainment magazine for women.
After a successful run as a television producer, Víctor Montilla was named President of the Puerto Rico Public Broadcasting Corporation in 2005, heading two television stations,two radio stations and an Internet portal.He immediately set important goals that became the center of his tenure: the pursuit of excellence and the exportation of Puerto Rican productions.With a clear intention of maintaining and further expanding and developing the Corporation’s production area while establishing a way to financial independence for the institution, which, up until that time, had heavily depended on legislative funding.
His legacy at the Corporation includes the establishment of a Fundraising Department, as well as a record-breaking sales department. He negotiated broadcasting licensing agreements reaching audiences in different viewing segments, generating additional income for TUTV. He also managed to increase audience levels of the Corporation’s radio stations thanks to a restructuring of facilities and programming that begun in October of 2005.
Montilla negotiated an unprecedented agreement with Televicentro-WAPAmerica to broadcast TUTV’s shows in key Hispanic markets throughout the United States, as well as negotiating a distribution contract with HITN to reach Puerto Ricans in the mainland.
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 (NATAS), for his tireless efforts and work on behalf of the Puerto Rican television industry, and successfully organizing the petition that resulted in Puerto Rico becoming part of the NATAS Suncoast Chapter and being allowed to compete in the annual Emmy Award Ceremony. He was also named Television Executive of the Year by the local advertising and marketing publication, AdNotas.com
On July 2008, at a press conference held at TUTV’s Hato Rey headquarters, and coinciding with the celebration of the station’s fiftieth anniversary, Montilla announced the station’s evolution to high definition digital production, with the inauguration of modern, state-of-the-art facilities, making TUTV the first television station of the island to be able to produce and broadcast in high definition.
He left the Corporation in February 2009.Upon his departure, and following the same principles he so eagerly bound to as President of CPRDP, he established, More than Media, to provide consulting services to companies seeking to maximize media investments, tap into the ever growing new diverse markets, export programming, and successfully launch and operate media related businesses.
As Executive Vice President for CCI, Montilla hopes to maintain CCI's leadership position, in sales and readership, as well as taking advantage of all the new technology available through digital media, social media and interactive applications.