Dennis Daugaard

A SERVANT LEADER OF SOUTH DAKOTA

1953 • CATEGORY

POLITICAL • RESIDING

GARRETSON, SD • NOMINATED BY

TONY VENHUIZEN Dennis Daugaard grew up on a family farm near Dell Rapids, milking cows and attending a one-room country school. A child of deaf parents, Dennis learned American Sign Language as his first language. After the country school closed, Dennis attended school in Dell Rapids where he met Linda Schmidt in eighth grade. He graduated from Dell Rapids High School (1971), the University of South Dakota (1975), and Northwestern University School of Law (1978). He worked his way through college and law school by washing dishes, waiting tables, interpreting for the hearing impaired, welding and painting heavy-duty trailers and water towers, and working as a security guard and bus driver. Following law school, Dennis spent three years working in Chicago.

In 1981, Dennis returned to South Dakota to marry Linda. He passed the state bar exam and began employment as a bank trust officer in Sioux Falls. In 1983, Dennis and Linda purchased the Daugaard family farm building site, where they built a house with their own hands, and raised two daughters and a son. Dennis spent nearly 10 years at the bank, during which he began to volunteer at Children’s Home Society, a century-old nonprofit serving abused and neglected children. Ultimately, Dennis left the bank in late 1990 to lead Children’s Home Foundation, the fundraising arm of Children’s Home Society. Just over 11 years later, he was named Executive Director of Children’s Home Society.

At Children’s Home, Dennis accomplished major milestones for the organization.

• He increased the endowment from $1 million to nearly $40 million;

• Raised funds to replace, restore, or expand all physical facilities, without incurring debt, at Black

Hills Children’s Home, Sioux Falls

Children’s Home, Messengers

Emergency Shelter, Children’s

Inn Emergency Shelter, and

Bright Start Home Visitation

Center;

• He helped to successfully merge Children’s Inn nonprofit shelter for women and children into Children’s Home Society, combining boards, aligning missions, and strengthening

Children’s Inn's financial status.

Dennis’s first entry into electoral politics came in 1996 when he was elected to the South Dakota State Senate. He remained a State Senator until he was elected Lieutenant Governor in 2002 as the running mate of Governor Mike Rounds. As Lt. Governor, Dennis promoted legislation to establish the South Dakota Ellsworth Development Authority to promote and manage economic development in the area surrounding Ellsworth Air Force Base. He also promoted the SD Honor Flight program to honor World War II veterans.

In October of 2009, Dennis resigned from his position at Children’s Home to pursue a campaign for Governor. He won a five-way primary in June of 2010, with just over 50% of the vote, and chose Matt Michels of Yankton as his running mate. Dennis and Matt were elected in November of that year and re-elected in 2014 by the largest margin in state history.

As Governor, Dennis accomplished the following:

• Eliminated a $127 million budget deficit without raising taxes, and achieved budget surpluses each of the next seven years

• Obtained the highest bond rating of AAA from all three major rating agencies, increasing the State’s bond rating from AA, to AA+ (2011), to AAA (2016, 2017, 2018)

• Created a $50 million “Build

Dakota” scholarship program to incent enrollment in technical institute programs in highdemand career fields

• Assembled Blue Ribbon Task

Force to propose and approve a bipartisan solution to improve education in South Dakota, and significantly increase average teacher pay

• Signed and implemented legislation to successfully challenge a U.S. Supreme Court ruling against collecting sales taxes from out-of-state internet sellers

• Promoted improvement of state infrastructure, including expansion and rehabilitation of state railways, and a package of tax and fee increases to fund state highway construction and the maintenance of state and local roads and bridges

• Led reform efforts in the adult and juvenile criminal justice systems that expanded substance-abuse treatment options and avoided the need for new prison facilities

• Established Good Earth State

Park in Lincoln County, as well as new facilities at Custer State

Park

• Led disaster response efforts, including the massive emergency flood protection efforts during the 2011 Missouri River flood, which included the largest instate mobilization of the South

Dakota National Guard since the 1972 Rapid City flood

In 2019, Dennis and Linda retired to their home near Dell Rapids, where they now enjoy close proximity to their three children and seven grandchildren.