David W. Johnson is the board chairman and owner of Reliabank, an $800mm bank with 10 locations in Eastern South Dakota.

He has been active in historic preservation since 1981. He and his wife Jan Hovey Johnson have placed three properties on the National Register of Historic Places (Lohr House in Estelline, 1st State Bank of Hazel and the Bandstand or Gazebo on Estelline’s Main Street.) Two homes and a 3-story commercial building on Kemp Avenue Watertown have also been renovated. The theater in the Goss Opera House in Watertown has been designated Reliabank Theater because of his involvement in historic restoration.

Johnson has traveled extensively, and the most interesting assignment was two month-long trips to Central Asia (Uzbekistan & Turkmenistan) as a USAID volunteer in 1995-96. Collective farms were being privatized after the break-up of the Soviet Union and Johnson was a member of a team training bankers and farmers on how to produce financial statements and cash flow projections to borrow money from revolving loan funds. In 1990, Johnson spent a month in Romania to adopt a 6-month-old child.

Johnson became the CEO of his family-owned bank in 1976. He worked for his family for 12 years before forming a Big Sioux Financial Inc to purchase the bank from his mother and three siblings. He has served as president of Independent Community Bankers of SD, board member of ICBA (Independent Community Bankers of America), Board of Trustees of Mt Marty University, President/Founder of Estelline Area Development Corp, and Assistant Governor for Rotary District 5610 in 2010-2012.
Johnson and Jan have two grown sons who work for Reliabank. They also have seven grandchildren.