Raj Manhas was the Superintendent of the Seattle Public School District

Seattle Public Schools

Seattle Public Schools is the school district serving Seattle, Washington, USA. Its headquarters are in the John Stanford Center for Educational Excellence.-List of schools:...

 from 2003. to 2006. He will be the Superintendent of North Thurston Public Schools

North Thurston Public Schools

North Thurston Public Schools, District No. 3 is a school district, providing educational services for Lacey and parts of unincorporated Thurston County, Washington, including students from the Nisqually Tribe Reservation...

 starting July 1, 2009.

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

University of Washington

University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...

. 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.