Raj Manhas was the Superintendent of the Seattle Public School District from 2003.[1] to 2006.[2] He will be the Superintendent of North Thurston Public Schools starting July 1, 2009.[3]
He came to the school district from Seattle Public Utilities, where he was director of field operations.
In 1973, Manhas arrived in Seattle, Washington to pursue a master’s degree in industrial engineering and business at the University of Washington. Upon graduation, he started a successful banking career that came to a halt when he refused a transfer to Asia for the sake of his children, who were still young at the time. Manhas then took on a job as deputy superintendent of the city’s water department and eventually became the director of field operations.
The son of a farmer, Manhas grew up in Saroya, a village in the Himalayan foothills of northern India.