Jim Knoblach

Early life and education

Knoblach was born and raised in Saint Cloud, Minnesota. He attended local public schools and graduated from Madison Elementary, North Junior High, and Apollo High School (1976). He attended Saint Cloud State University and Saint John’s University (Minnesota), graduating with a B.S. in Economics and Business Administration in three years in 1979. He also obtained his Certified Public Accountant license in 1979 (now inactive). He was then accepted at Harvard Business School, where he graduated with a M.B.A. in 1981. He later attended Georgetown University, graduating with a M.A. in American Government in 1987, and also interned with U.S. Senator Dave Durenberger.

Business career

Knoblach’s first job was a carpenter’s assistant for Master Builders, where he worked in high school and college. He also worked for his father’s real estate company, Mark’s Realty, and obtained his real estate sales license. After graduating from Harvard, he returned to work at his father’s real estate company, but left in late 1982 to purchase Coldwell Banker, Crown Realtors in Alexandria, MN. He continues to own Crown with a partner today, doing real estate brokerage, investment and management in central and western Minnesota. In 1983 Knoblach went to work for MediSense Inc. in Minneapolis, MN as General Manager. He purchased a line of their research products in 1984, which he later sold before moving to Washington DC in 1986. Upon returning to Minnesota in 1987, Knoblach started North Star Direct, a firm that did direct mail, data processing and specialty printing, which he sold in 1993. In 2006 Knoblach took a position as President of Space Data Corporation, an Arizona based communications company. He left in 2007 and did medical device consulting in Minnesota until 2009 when he refocused on his real estate investment business.

Minnesota House of Representatives

Knoblach was first elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives in 1994 and served until early 2007 after declining to run in the 2006 election. During his years in office Knoblach chaired the House Capital Investment Committee for two terms (1999-2002) and the House Ways and Means Committee for two terms (2003-2006). Knoblach was instrumental in leading the House through the recession and budget crisis brought on by the September 11, 2001 terror attacks. Knoblach also chaired the House Republican Election Committee from 1997-2001 during which time House Republicans took the majority for the first time in fourteen years (1998) and kept the majority for the first time in over twenty-five years (2000). Knoblach was also an Assistant Majority Leader. Knoblach ran for the Republican nomination for Minnesota’s Sixth Congressional District in 2006, but came in second of four to Michele Bachmann, who was then elected to Congress. In 2014 Knoblach ran for State Representative (but in a different more Democrat-leaning district) and narrowly defeated incumbent Rep. Zach Dorholt in what was then the most expensive State Representative race in Minnesota history. Knoblach was then named to again Chair the House Ways and Means Committee. Knoblach defeated Dorholt again in 2016 in the most expensive State Representative race in Minnesota history, and continues to Chair the House Ways and Means Committee.

Personal life

Knoblach and his wife, Janet, married in 1988. They have two children and reside in St. Cloud, Minnesota. in Central Minnesota. He serves on the Saint Cloud Salvation Army Advisory Board, Central Minnesota Council Boy Scout Board, Big Brothers Big Sisters Advisory Board, and is a member of the Saint Cloud Rotary. He was previously a member of the Saint John’s University Board of Regents, the Board of the Saint Cloud Christian School, and several other boards.