Dominik Mjartan

Dominik is the chief executive officer of American Bancorp and its subsidiary, American Pride Bank, and during his extensive career in community development banking has led organizational transformation and strategic execution of large-scale initiatives while emphasizing total value for all stakeholders. 

He was president and CEO of Optus Financial Corp., and its subsidiary, Optus Bank, from 2017 through 2024, and he remains the vice chairman of its board of directors. Under his leadership, Optus Bank became a high-performing, innovative, digital, mission-driven bank; its assets increased more than tenfold and equity by more than 240% during his tenure. Dominik also spent more than a decade as a senior executive officer at Southern Bancorp, a community development bank, and at departure was executive vice president of the bank and CEO of an affiliated lending company, Southern Bancorp Community Partners. He led Southern's strategic realignment and transformation from a $400 million community bank to a $1.2 billion financial institution.

He is a founding director of Climate First Bank, a director of the National Bankers Association, and was formerly chair of the CDFI Coalition. In 2022, Dominik was appointed to the FDIC Community Bank Advisory Board. He has also served as chair, finance chair, or director of numerous community development and educational organizations. He is a regular guest on NPR’s Marketplace, and has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, American Banker, and other national platforms discussing banking trends, innovation, and financial inclusion. In 2024, he was recognized as EY Entrepreneur of the Year in the Southeast region of the U.S.

Dominik immigrated to the U.S. from the former Czechoslovakia at the age of 16. He was a Donaghey Scholar and graduated summa cum laude with a B.S. in management from University of Arkansas at Little Rock, and earned an MBA at the University of Ulster in the U.K., graduating with distinction. He has three children with his wife, Georgia Mjartan, who is president and CEO of Central Carolina Community Foundation.