When Don Johnson retired from public accounting in 2019, two Minnesota community bankers were, lickety-split, at his door inviting him to join their boards as an outside director. But Johnson was resolute about taking a break from the industry he’d served for 31 years. Though he was 56 and hearing comments that he was “a little young” to be retiring, Johnson and his wife, Wendy, wanted to travel and try new things.
In the nascent days of retirement, the Johnsons traversed the Great Smoky Mountains and the Canadian Rockies by car, and earned some calluses as they built and finished a 3,000-square-foot-shed complete with living quarters on acreage they acquired near their Minnetrista, Minn., home. Those first 12 months also provided Johnson some clarity about what might come next. And though other bankers had approached him about joining their boards, after one year of retirement, Johnson called the two bankers who’d been the first to call him to see if they were still interested in having him as an outside director.
Johnson is being recognized as a BankBeat 2022 “Amazing Outside Director” for his service to First National Bank of Henning, Minn., Minnesota Lakes Bank, Delano, Minn., and Grand Rapids State Bank, Grand Rapids, Minn., the latter two part of Wilcox Bancshares.
Johnson comes to the roles well-credentialed. He was a partner at Eide Bailly at the time of his retirement. He’d come to the Fargo-based firm via its acquisition of Wolf Etter in 2006; and, Johnson worked at the Charles Preston Company years before that. That’s when Jim Espeland, CEO and chair of the $288 million First National Bank of Henning, first met Johnson.
“I believe it is critical for community banks to retain outside board members … who are straight-forward, impartial and able to lead and influence others,” Espelend said. Also critical is industry knowledge, shared values and the ability to work confidentially, qualities Espeland said Johnson brings to his board.
“Don was a trusted friend and partner for decades” prior to retirement, explained Noah Wilcox, chair, president and CEO of Wilcox Bancshares. “I think Don is unique in that he dedicated his career to community banking and all it shands for.”
Wilcox Bancshares and Henning Bancshares operate in distinct regions of the Northstar State, an important distinction, which allows Johnson to give his full attention and complete independence to both companies.
Neither does Johnson live in the communities that each bank serves. Serving from afar, Zoom meetings notwithstanding, allows Johnson a level of detachment that can be valuable as an outside director, he explained. As a result, he can focus on the financials or on emerging trends or what’s going on in the industry. “The leadership of the banks I’m on the boards of, they’re at the forefront of all of that,” Johnson said. “If I’m going to be an independent director, I truly have an obligation not only to the bank but also to myself to make sure that I am independent.”
His approach is different from the one honed from years of service to community banks across the region as part of an outside accounting team. In those years, he was charged with delivering the right solution or the perfect formula for success. “I didn’t lose the proactive piece of me,” he said of his board service. It’s just different now: It involves a great deal more listening and thoughtful analysis “without being the problem solver out of the shoot.”
Retirement and the space it affords becomes the rich seedbed from which thoughtfulness sprouts. And, there aren’t many issues that arise that Johnson hasn’t encountered before. “I don’t go into the ‘who’ or ‘what’ or ‘when,’ but I say, ‘I’ve seen this before,”’ he said. “I draw on that a lot.”
Johnson’s decades of accounting experience is tapped beyond the boardroom as well. Johnson can be relied upon to sit in on calls or meetings with vendors when asked, for example; he’s there “to listen and give feedback,” he said. It’s another way he brings value to the banks he serves.
Johnson enjoys the collaborative nature of board service and especially enjoys listening to and learning from outside directors from other industries. He keeps all of the details separate by utilizing different email addresses for each institution, managing separate files, and setting aside ample time to come to each meeting well-prepared to analyze and grapple with the discussions on that day’s agenda.
“Being a bank director in this day and age is an opportunity fraught with more liability than perks, it seems,” Wilcox said. “Don embraces that to continue to give back to community banking.”
Johnson says he’s landed in a good place in a form of post-professional part reinvention, part reinvigoration. “I got my year off,” he said. “I can get back in and be engaged, but engaged in a different manner.”