That’s Kristi Luger. Kristi is the new City Manager for the City of Excelsior. She started there on Monday, April 21. I went up to Excelsior today to take her out for lunch to welcome her to the Twin Cities.
Actually, it’s really more like welcoming her back to the Twin Cities. You see, Kristi is an Eden Prairie gal. She grew up here and graduated from Eden Prairie High School. She then went on to get her bachelors and masters degrees from Minnesota State-Mankato. And, just a few short years ago (four years ago, if my memory is correct), Kristi was an intern in my office.
Now I’d like to be able to report that being my intern was the most important experience Kristi had in her college years, but I can’t be sure of that. What I am sure of is that she knew what she wanted to be a City Manager someday and she was dedicated to achieve it.
Following the completion of her masters degree, Kristi served as the City Administrator for the City of Tyler, Minnesota, which is way out west. That was a great experience for her because it was live on-the-job experience. She made actual decisions that combined what she learned as my intern and what she learned in the classrooms in Mankato. She has now worked her way back to the Twin Cities and her new job in Excelsior.
I have several other interns who have moved on to success in their post-intern years, but Kristi is the first to become a full-fledged City Manager, and I am very proud of her.