A long-time administrator for the Austin Public Schools District will be taking a new role up in the Twin Cities.

Mark Stotts, the director of finance and operations, has taken a job offer up and his last day with the district will be on Friday, Superintendent David Krenz confirmed on Wednesday.

“Mark has been a really great asset for the school district,” Krenz said. “I hired him during my first year in the district and I had hired him from a position up in the city. …He’s done a great job for us and we’ll miss him.”

The superintendent shared that Stotts had given his notice about two to three weeks ago.

Some of Stotts’ responsibilities as director of finance and operations were to oversee the financial operations of the school district as well as on the facilities side. Krenz stated that there were a few people set in place to help care for the day to day operations within the department, and that leadership responsibilities will be distributed internally. Krenz also said he will take “a good portion of that responsibility until replacements are found.”

Stotts received his bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Minnesota, Duluth, and master’s from the University of St. Thomas. He was previously a licensed CPA and a member of the Minnesota Society of CPAs and American Institute of CPAs. Stotts also held positions in public accounting and controller of the largest division of Seaboard Corporation, according to the University of St. Thomas website.

Stotts was a founding member and chairman of the board of MN Trust, a comprehensive investment and cash management program for Minnesota school districts.

The next step for the district is to process and analyze Stotts’ position and look into which direction the school board would want to go with the open position.