John Zimini, President
John Zimini was recently elected as President of the DATV Board of Directors. John is the longest serving member of the Dracut Access Television Board of Directors and is the only remaining original member of the Board. In addition to being a DATV Board member, John is the Producer and Co-host of DATV’s “What’s Happening Dracut” a news and political talk show.
Mr. Zimini has been a resident of Dracut for most of the past 30 years. He has extensive experience with community cable access from his prior hometown of Chelsea.
John’s educational background includes graduating from Boston’s Career Academy School of Radio and TV Broadcasting where he successfully completed his training in journalism, radio announcing and TV broadcasting. The school was located in Fenway Park!
Prior to joining the DATV Board he was an appointee of the town of Dracut’s Community Access Committee. In addition to serving on the town’s Cable Access committee he was also a member of the Dracut Finance Committee and was honored to have served 9 years on the Board of Selectmen as well.
Philippe Thibault, Vice President
Philippe Thibault is a local architect with strong ties to the community. A licensed professional with over 27 years of experience, he brings a strong design and planning background to the Board of Directors. Philippe has dedicated his time to DATV with two terms on the Board of Directors serving as a past President. Phil has also been involved as a host and producer of several DATV productions. Apart from his time in Architecture and with DATV, Philippe has served on many Town of Dracut Boards and Commissions: including the Permanent Building Committee, Planning Board, Master Plan Committee, Capitol Planning, Community Preservation Committee, and Northern Middlesex Council of Governments.
Matthew Sheehan, Treasurer
Matt is appointed by the Dracut Town Manager and currently serves as the DATV Board Treasurer.
Brian Genest, Clerk
Brian Genest joined the DATV Board of Directors in 2020 and serves as the DATV Board Clerk. He is the producer and host of Eye on Dracut, a monthly show covering town happenings, politics and people that was named the winner of the 2022 Hometown Media Award for news. Genest was a broadcast journalism major at Emerson College, where he earned a degree in mass communication, and has experience in every aspect of television production. A marketing and communications expert with more than 20 years of success driving growth, maximizing ROI and boosting profits for consumer and high tech-brands, he has developed and executed strategic initiatives for a range of disruptive technologies, including robots, mobile commerce solutions and SaaS products. Earlier in his career, Genest worked as a newspaper reporter and editor. He is chairman of the Dracut Republican Town Committee and a member of the Massachusetts Republican State Committee representing the Second Essex & Middlesex district of Dracut, Andover, Lawrence and Tewksbury.
Rebecca Duda, Board Member
Rebecca is appointed by the Dracut School Committee and she is also the Producer and Host of the “Discovering Dracut” show.
Tami Dristiliaris, Board Member
Tami is elected by the DATV Membership.
Gordy Scott, Board Member
Gordy is our newest Board Member filling an unexpired term, a seat that will be elected by the DATV Membership. He is a co-host of “What’s Happening Dracut”, a bi-weekly show covering town news, politics as well as state and federal government issues. Gordy holds many certifications in the field of Information Technology and has over 30 years of experience as well. Gordy earned a Telecommunications Management degree from DeVry Institute of Technology in Lisle, Illinois and has worked in the technology field his entire career. Known as a technology expert, Gordy has developed many automated processes and owns and operates many websites, including kenomaster.com, which provides data analysis and statistics for the Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Delaware state lotteries. He has also served on the Dracut Recreation Committee and served as the President of the Dracut Basketball Association for over 10 years.