Brian Masterson feels like he’s coming home.
Masterson has been hired as the new superintendent of St. Louis County Schools.
“St. Louis County is home,” Masterson, the current superintendent at Hinckley-Finlayson Schools said. “We have a family cabin in Orr and I’ve spent a lot of time in St. Louis County.Oneofmygrandfathers grew up in Orr. The northern part of the county is my favorite place to be.”
The seven-member St. Louis County Schools board voted unanimously Thursday evening to hire Masterson, Lynn Hilde, St. Louis County Schools board chair said.
Masterson was selected from among four candidates that had been under consideration for the job from an original pool of six applicants.
“We felt we had some very good candidates and he had a lot of things that just fit for us,” Hilde said. “He fit very well for what we were looking for.”
Masterson said he was on his wayhomefromthejobinterview at the St. Louis County Schools district office in Virginia when he received a phone call from Hilde offering him the job.
“I was surprised and wasn’t expecting a phone call,” Masterson said. “I was somewhere between Cloquet and Barnum when he called.”
Masterson accepted the job on the spot.
However, he still needs to formally sign a contract, he said.
As advertised, the annual salary range was $145,000 up to $180,000, Hilde said.
The St. Louis County Schools superintendency is attractive to him for several reasons, Masterson said.
“I’m really excited about the mental health system that is in place,” Masterson said. “It’s been recognized at a state and national level. And everyone I have spoken to says the staff are amazing as far as working with the kids and workbased learning. Everyone says the staff is working hard to do whatever they can to help kids.”
Masterson said he grew up in Proctor and graduated from Proctor High School in 1979.
He has served 11 years as a principal and four years as superintendent at Hinckley-Finlayson.
Masterson on July 1, 2026, takes over leadership of St. Louis County Schools.
CurrentSt.LouisCountySchools Superintendent Reggie Engebritson retires June 30.
“I will meet with Reggie in the next few weeks on the transition,” Masterson said.
Masterson will also serve as superintendent of Mountain Iron-Buhl Public Schools under a sharing agreement between the two school districts.
Although Masterson was hired by the St. Louis County Schools board, Mountain Iron-Buhl Public Schools officials participated in the process. Laura Petersen, Mountain Iron-Buhl Public Schools board chair, said the Minnesota School Boards Association did a great job in guiding the superintendent search process.
“We had great applicants and I’m excited that we are offering the position to the top candidate,” Petersen said. “He (Masterson) showed great poise, energy, leadership and knowledge in his interview and I think he will bring great experience to our leadership team.”
Mountain Iron-Buhl Public Schools pays a percentage of the shared superintendent salary, Petersen said.
Masterson said he and his wife, a special education teacher at Hinckley- Finlayson, will put their current house up for sale and relocate.
St. Louis County Schools is the largest school district in the state geographically.
The district’s K-12 schools are Cherry Campus in Iron, North Woods between Cook and Orr, Northeast Range in Babbitt and South Ridge in Culver.
It also operates Tower-Soudan School, an elementary school in Tower.
