About

DGH Advisors was organized by David Hanna to provide business owners with another perspective.  A perspective deeply influenced by great people and a wide variety of experiences surrounding business software, capital formation, operations, management organization, and accounting.

Here is David Hanna's story to illustrate the foundations of our perspective: 

Besides fly fishing, I am enthusiastic about helping people have a better business that helps them, their family, their employees, and their customers.  

My name is David Hanna.  Born in Yankton and raised in Parkston South Dakota.  I received an accounting degree from the University of South Dakota in 1989 and completed my MBA In 1991. During the MBA program, I passed the CPA exam.  

In May of 1992, I moved to Rapid City South Dakota to run a bungee jumping company for absentee owners (seriously).  That business didn’t ‘fly’ but it got me to Rapid City, and I love it here.  

In January 1993, Ketel Thorstenson LLP (CPA firm) was gracious enough to hire me.  I spent 10 years in public accounting, a few years between those 10 were spent in Denver where I recruited CFOs and Controllers (mostly for venture capital groups out of Boulder Colorado).  In public accounting I had the varied experiences of tax and audit work, along with business valuation and related expert witness work.

In 2005, I transitioned to helping a former client start their hotel and casino management company (currently LIV Hospitality).  Many properties were already up and running and more were on the way.  As their CEO, my job was to help organize and consolidate back-office operations (accounting, HR, marketing, property management).  After 30 months of a lot of work, the management company had outgrown me, and it needed someone with more hotel / casino operational experience.  

Now I was about 40 years old.  My hope was always to be an entrepreneur.  I had saved some money and owned Paychex stock in the 1990s and was amazed at the efficiency of the Paychex business model.  I researched the payroll services industry, picked a software to use, raised some capital along with my own, and founded Paystubz.  Thanks to its clients and employees, fourteen years later Paystubz had become the largest provider of HCM (human capital management) software in North and South Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana.  We served over 300 employers that had a combined 14,000 people employed.  I negotiated the sale of Paystubz in December 2021.  

I’ve had the good fortune of growing up with a wonderful family, great friends, and great public education.  I’ve utilized those blessings to become a CPA, then a businessperson, and then an entrepreneur.  As an entrepreneur, I’ve participated in the entire business lifecycle – concept to sale.  

With all that, we bring another perspective to help you.