Governor names 2 to State Board of Higher Education

A West Fargo school administrator and a Williston banker have been named to the North Dakota State Board of Higher Education. 

Gov. Kelly Armstrong on Thursday announced he has appointed Levi Bachmeier of West Fargo and Patrick Sogard of Williston to four-year terms on the board starting July 1.

The eight-member board oversees the North Dakota University System’s 11 public colleges and universities.

Bachmeier will succeed board member Casey Ryan, a Grand Forks physician who is completing his second term on the board, the maximum allowed. Sogard will succeed board member Jeffry Volk, a retired Fargo consulting engineer who has served on the board since 2021. 

Volk had applied to serve a second term and was named as a finalist. 

Bachmeier has served as business manager of the West Fargo School District since 2019. From 2016 to 2019, he served as an education policy adviser and policy director for Gov. Doug Burgum. Bachmeier previously taught high school social studies. Bachmeier earned a bachelor’s degree in education from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota. He serves on the North Dakota Board of Public Education and North Dakota Career and Technical Education Board.

Sogard has chaired the board of American State Bank & Trust Co. in Williston since 2003, also serving as a trust officer from 2000 to 2005. He previously worked as an attorney in private practice from 1986 to 2000. Sogard studied at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and earned his bachelor’s degree in geological engineering from the University of North Dakota and his law degree from the UND School of Law. He serves on the board of the UND Alumni Association & Foundation.

The appointments will need the approval of the North Dakota Senate.