Governor Announces Appointments

SPRINGFIELD - Governor Bruce Rauner announced today he has appointed an Inspector General of the Illinois Tollway, and made judicial appointments to the Illinois Court of Claims and the Illinois Property Tax Appeal Board.

Name: TJ Hengesbach
Position: Inspector General - Illinois Toll Highway

Governor Bruce Rauner has appointed TJ Hengesbach as Inspector General of the Illinois Tollway. He has nearly 15 years of experience from the Illinois and City of Chicago's Inspector General offices and has been a practicing attorney since 1991.

Most recently, Hengesbach was the Deputy Inspector General in Chicago's Office of Inspector General. He was part of the team that provided legal support and solutions to all sections of the oversight agency. He also provided legal counsel and policy guidance on internal personnel decisions, and external investigative, audit and compliance activity. He worked for the City of Chicago from October 2005 to April 2015. Prior to this, he was the general counsel for Illinois' Office of Executive Inspector General. In this role he developed investigative protocols and participated in investigations of allegations of fraud, waste and misconduct.

Hengesbach is a Certified Inspector General from the Association of Inspector Generals and a Certified Compliance and Ethics Professional from the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics.

Hengesbach earned his bachelor's degree from the University of Notre Dame and his law degree from Indiana University-Bloomington. He lives in Chicago.

Name: Peter G. Karahalios
Positions: Judge - Illinois Court of Claims

Governor Bruce Rauner has appointed Peter G. Karahalios to the Illinois Court of Claims. Karahalios brings 40 years of experience as an attorney in both the private and public sectors to the bench.

Currently, Karahalios is the Chief Legal Counsel and Sworn Deputy Treasurer in the Cook County Treasurer's Office. He oversees the compliance of state statutes and county ordinances on real estate tax collection and coordinates litigation with the Cook County State's Attorney and U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. He has held this position since 2007. It's a return to the Cook County Treasurer's Office because he previously worked there from 1998-2003 as the Chief of Staff and Sworn Chief Deputy Treasurer. Karahalios has worked in private practice, as well.

Karahalios earned his bachelor's degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago and his law degree from the Illinois Institute of Technology/Chicago-Kent College of Law. He was also a member of the Illinois National Guard from 1970-1976. He lives in South Barrington.

Name: Robert Steffen
Position: Judge - Illinois Property Tax Appeal Board

Governor Bruce Rauner has appointed Robert Steffen to the Illinois Property Tax Appeal Board. He brings over 23 years of legal experience to the board.

Steffen currently serves as Court of Claims Judge for the State of Illinois. He was appointed to the post in 2004. He is also the owner of Steffen Law, P.C., a law firm in Elgin which he started in 2000. Prior to his own law firm and time on the bench, Steffen served as an assistant state's attorney in the Kane County State's Attorney's Office. Over the course of his eight years with Kane County, he prosecuted countless crimes and petty offenses.

Steffen earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of Illinois and a law degree from John Marshall Law School. He lives in South Barrington.