Kris Thiel was named business manager of the Rugby School District at a school board meeting Tuesday, August 14. He replaces Ryan Lagasse who is moving to Mandan to be the Facilities and Transportation Director at Mandan High School.

Thiel is a Rugby native and a graduate of Rugby High School. In 2005 he received bachelor’s degrees in accounting and air traffic control from the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks. He worked for two years as a trust and tax accountant at US Bank, NA, and was an air traffic controller at Grand Forks for two years. Most recently he was employed by Giddings and Associates, Fargo, as a tax manager. He has been a Certified Public Accountant since 2009. In addition to serving as school business manager, he will continue to run the accounting office he has established in Rugby.

Thiel is married and has two children, a step-son, Daniel, who will be a seventh grader at Rugby Junior High, and a two-and-one-half year old daughter, Kaia. His wife, Tara, plans to attend Minot State University this fall to finish her art degree. She also is a dealer for an online gift and jewelry business, “Sand Castles in the Sky”.

“We’re happy to be back and have the opportunity to give back to the community I grew up in,” Thiel said.

Since moving to Rugby earlier this summer he has been able to participate in his hobbies of fishing, sports and other outdoor activities, and is looking forward to hunting this fall.

His parents, Glen and Helga Thiel, live near Rugby, and his grandparents, Mel and Betty Thiel, are also Rugby residents.