Daniel Reardon

Daniel C. Reardon is a Co-CEO and trustee of the Otto Bremer Trust (OBT), the Saint Paul–based charitable trust founded in 1944 by German-American businessman Otto Bremer. He earned a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Minnesota and joined the Trust in January 1995, building more than two decades of experience across executive management, philanthropy, and banking. As a trustee he is responsible for administering OBT in accordance with its trust instrument, managing operations and investments, and directing the Trust's regulatory posture as a bank-holding company.

For most of his tenure the Trust's defining asset was its roughly 92% ownership of Bremer Financial Corporation, the parent of Bremer Bank, an interest analysts valued in the billions. Reardon also served on the board of directors of Bremer Financial Corporation. Under his leadership the Trust set records for annual distributions, including a then-record ~$47.3 million in grants and program-related investments in 2016. The Trust's grantmaking spans Minnesota, North Dakota, and western Wisconsin — communities historically served by Bremer Bank branches.

Reardon was a central figure in a high-profile governance dispute. In October 2019 the trustees moved to explore a sale or merger of Bremer Financial; Bremer sued the trustees in November 2019, and in August 2020 Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison petitioned to remove all three trustees (Reardon, Brian Lipschultz, and Charlotte/Caroline Johnson), citing breaches of fiduciary duty and self-dealing. The court ultimately removed Lipschultz (affirmed on appeal in January 2023) but allowed Reardon and Johnson to remain as trustees.

The saga resolved in a large transaction: Old National Bancorp announced a deal for Bremer (reported at ~$1.4 billion) in late 2024, and the merger closed on May 1, 2025. Post-close, the Otto Bremer Trust holds roughly an 11% stake in Old National, and the Trust has said its grantmaking will "continue uninterrupted," with future philanthropic capacity potentially expanding substantially.

• Operates as an institutional grantmaker and program-related investor, not a venture angel — capital flows to nonprofits and community organizations, not equity in startups.
• Mission, in the Trust's own words: "investing in people, places, and opportunities in our region."
• Geographic discipline: concentrates giving in Minnesota, North Dakota, and western Wisconsin (with recent references to Montana), historically mapped to Bremer Bank communities.
• Deploys a mix of grants and program-related/mission investments, supporting community development, human services, health, education, and economic opportunity.
• As a bank-holding-company trustee, Reardon's mandate blends fiduciary stewardship of a large financial asset with charitable distribution — the two are structurally linked (bank dividends historically funded the giving).