Kraig Garber was named to the position of Assistant Executive Director by the IHSA Board of Directors on December 14, 2015. He officially began his duties as the administrator for Cross Country, Swimming and Diving, Track and Field, Scholastic Bowl, and Coaches Education on July 11, 2016.
A 1998 graduate of Carrollton High School, Garber participated and lettered in Football, Basketball, and Track and Field. After high school, he accepted a Track and Field scholarship at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville. He graduated from SIUE in 2002 earning a Bachelor’s Degree in Secondary Education with an emphasis in history and a minor in political science. Kraig went on to earn a Master’s Degree in Educational Administration from SIUE in 2008, and he completed a Specialist Degree in the School Superintendency from Eastern Illinois University in 2013.
Following his undergraduate work in 2002, Garber started his career in education as a long term substitute teacher and tennis coach at Jersey Community High School in Jerseyville, IL. The following school year, he was hired to teach social studies and English at his alma mater, Carrollton High School in Carrollton, IL. While teaching at Carrollton, he also coached basketball at the intermediate and junior high levels, and he served as the assistant high school track and field coach. In 2009, after six years of teaching and coaching, Kraig was named as Carrollton’s Assistant Principal for grades 6-12. The following year, he was promoted to Carrollton High School Principal and served in that capacity until 2012 when he was named as the Mt. Zion High School Principal in Mt. Zion, IL. Garber left his position in Mt. Zion to join the IHSA staff.
Kraig and his wife, Jami, currently reside in Bloomington and are parents of a son and daughter, Lucas and Haley.