Kristian Yun-Thayer '01 enters his fourth season as the diving coach for the men's and women's swimming & diving teams in 2024-25.
Yun-Thayer recently aided the Cadets to another sweep of the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Championships in both men's and women's swimming & diving in February of 2024. The sweep included a slew of end-of-season awards, as Reilly Laitala '26 and Aidan Grady '24 earned Women's and Men's Diver of the Year, while Kristian Adlianitski '27 and Will Thompson '25 earned Men's Rookie of the Year and Men's Swimmer of the Year, respectively.
Yun-Thayer has helped oversee an incredibly successful stretch in the program's history, including a clean sweep of the 2022-23 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Championships by the men's and women's programs. Yun-Thayer, alongside Head Coach Jennifer Cournoyer and Assistant Coach Chris Delmas, earned Men's and Women's Coaching Staff of the Year accolades.
In 2022-23, both programs received several major year-end GNAC awards, as Nikky Avise '24 and Martin Adlianitski '25 earned Women's and Men's Swimmer of the Year, respectively. Jack Brennan '24 and Adrian Riendeau '26 were named Men's Diver and Men's Rookie of the Year.
Yun-Thayer is a Norwich University alumni who graduated in May 2001 and was commissioned into the United States Army Infantry as a Second Lieutenant. He came to Norwich through the Army Green to Gold scholarship program, which takes rising leaders in the enlisted forces, recognizes leadership competencies and awards educational financial assistance. As an Enlisted Soldier, Kristian served in the 1st Regiment, 3rd Battalion US Infantry Unit, known as The Old Guard, and was stationed at Ft. Myer, Virginia (adjacent to the National Arlington Cemetery). While at the Old Guard, Kristian trained with the Army Drill Team and competed in the All Army Tae Kwon Do Championships before leaving for Norwich University.
While at Norwich, he was active across all aspects of the campus: Corp of Cadets (Cadet Drill Sergeant; Cadet Major (Battalion Executive Officer)), performed lead roles in the University’s Theatre Troop – Pegasus Players, and was a walk-on diver on the Men’s Swimming and Diving team. Kristian broke both diving records, consistently scored well at each diving meet throughout the season, qualified for the capstone competition of each year, the New England Swimming and Diving Championships, and was Team Captain in his junior and senior years. Kristian was awarded the Cadet-Athlete Award during the spring awards ceremony, making him the only diver in the school’s history to have received the award.
He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English and was recognized with various awards throughout the Humanities Department. Upon leaving Norwich University, Kristian served in the United States Army in varying roles and was selected over 400 qualifying 1st Lieutenants to serve as the Aide de Camp (General’s Aid) at Ft. Benning, GA. Kristian was medically retired in September 2005 due to injuries sustained during Ranger School after a 20-foot fall in training. Even though he had never served as Company Commander, Kristian was recognized for his leadership and was awarded the Order of St. Maurice (the Guardian Angel of the US Infantry) by the United States Infantry Association. Kristian and his wife, Vivian, retired to Atlanta, Georgia, where they raise their three girls – Kayleigh, Julia, and Noelle.
Since retiring from the Army, Kristian has made a career in the Financial Industry in varying roles and continues serving the community through volunteer events. Kristian is a Vice President at Bank of America and a Strategy and Initiatives Manager for the local market organization. In this capacity, he works with Market Executives, Chief Operations Officers of each Line of Business, and other leaders across the enterprise to plan, build, and execute Business Integration initiatives. Business Integration is the CEO’s top initiative and catalyst for delivering responsible growth.
In addition to his daily work in this capacity, Kristian is the Atlanta Chair of the Bank of America Community Volunteering program and drives volunteering throughout the Atlanta Market and all lines of businesses across the firm. Most recently, Kristian and others on the BACCV Leadership team were awarded the Atlanta CVC “Impact” Award for the firm's work raising financial literacy throughout the market in the bank’s signature Better Money Habits program.
In addition to the leadership Kristian provides in the Bank of America Volunteer program, he has also provided leadership as a board member of a non-profit organization which works with disabled children and disabled veterans and is an active member of the Disabled American Veterans organization. Outside of work, Kristian was appointed by the Mayor of Johns Creek to be a leading member of the Johns Creek Arts, Culture, and Entertainment Committee. Kristian balances his professional, community service, and volunteering time with his family and raises three beautiful and talented children. Kayleigh (19) is a recruited tennis player at the United States Air Force Academy (reaching a National Ranking of 8 in her youth tennis); Julia (16) is the captain of the Girl’s Golf Team at Northview High School and is currently looking at college admissions process and; Noelle (7) received her black belt in Tae Kwon Do and competes on the Two Gold Tae Kwon Do Demonstration Team.
Kristian joined the NU Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving Coaching staff as a volunteer in the 2021-2022 academic/competition year. During this year, he coached Jack Brennan to break his record (20 years later). He traveled to Rhode Island to coach the divers at the New England Intercollegiate Swimming and Diving Championship where Norwich took (eight) different awards: 1-Meter Men’s 1st Place; 1-Meter Men’s 3rd Place; 1-Meter Women’s 1st Place; 3-Meter Men’s 1st Place; 3-Meter Men’s Second Place; Men’s Diver of the Year; Men’s Dive Coach of the Year; and Women’s Dive Coach of the Year.
