U.S. Bank Stadium hired a new executive director Thursday to oversee a variety of contracts and operations.

Ed Kroics had been director of operations for ASM Global since 2022. He will now be the executive director of the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority (MSFA), the state government agency that oversees the building.

Working for ASM Global, Kroics had been the operations manager of the building since it opened in 2016. "He knows where the last screw went in," MSFA Chair Michael Vekich said of Kroics' knowledge of the structure.

Kroics has been involved in almost all other areas of the operation from turf, air flow and contracts to complex project management. Vekich said his knowledge is vast. "If he doesn't know it, he'll stay up 24 hours to make sure he does," Vekich said.

Members of the MSFA interviewed Kroics after a national search and approved his hiring at the regularly scheduled monthly meeting.

He succeeds Ben Jay, who was at the authority for a year before moving home to Ohio for personal reasons in December.

Ed Kroics has been named executive director of U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.

The authority paid Minneapolis-based firm Cohen Taylor $61,000 to conduct a national search for Jay's replacement. Vekich said the firm identified 200 possible candidates, eventually winnowing it to two who were interviewed by the board, ASM and the Minnesota Vikings, the building's primary tenant.

"We're looking at the ability to hold accountable the contracts with ASM and Aramark, and the use agreement with the Vikings," Vekich said.

The MSFA has a small staff of three to oversee the stadium that cost $1.1 billion. With ASM, Kroics already has helped develop and implement capital plans and projects. He's helped oversee some 1,700 events at the building, including the 2018 Super Bowl and the NCAA men's Final Four in 2019.

Before moving to Minnesota, he worked for eight NFL seasons at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis as the operations and field manager.

He attended Western Governors University in Salt Lake City, focused on math and business management. He lives in Maple Grove and has volunteered for the Osseo-Maple Grove Basketball Association as a youth traveling coach. He will be paid $183,000.