Mount CarmelHigh School

1963 Alumnus David Bochnowski has lived an incredible life.  David was part of the first group of Mount Carmel Students who came to Mount Carmel from Indiana.  Fast forward to today, 1 in 6 students at Mount Carmel travels from the Hoosier state.  While at Mount Carmel David was a member of the Monogram Club, National Honor Society, Scoop, Carmel-lite, Intramural Basketball and the Golf Team.

After Mount Carmel, David enrolled at Georgetown in the School of Foreign Service and was in the ROTC program.  It was during this time at Georgetown that he struck up a friendship with a fellow Hoya who would later become the 42^nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton.  They met when David was the President of the Junior Class and President Clinton was the president of the Sophomore Class.  They both worked in student government during their time at Georgetown.

When he completed his degree at Georgetown, he attended Howard University and earned his master’s degree in African studies.  David chose this path because he identified Africa as being rich in natural resources, so he thought this, coupled with his Foreign Service focus from Georgetown, may lead him to his career working for the U.S. Government. 

After he graduated from Howard, David was sent to Vietnam in 1969 and remained in-country until 1971.  While stationed in Vietnam, he was a Phoenix Officer on a Green Beret led team, in An Xuyen Province, Quan Long District in the southernmost tip of Vietnam.  The Phoenix program was established utilizing military intelligence to dismantle the political infrastructure of the Viet Cong.  David was awarded the Bronze Star for his service in Vietnam.  Due to his service in Vietnam, he was diagnosed with an Agent Orange disease in 2013, after this diagnoses the VA determined he was 100% disabled.

After Vietnam, David returned to Georgetown to attend law school.   After graduating he dabbled in politics himself, working for Indiana Senator Birch Bayh for over a decade, ultimately serving as a Special Assistant and manager of two election campaigns.  In 1976, after clerking for a federal judge, he entered private practice for the next five years

In 1981, David took the helm of Peoples Bank, a bank his grandfather founded in 1910.  Peoples Bank is a community bank, as David explained, “Community banking is critical to our financial well-being.”  During his time as the CEO of Peoples Bank, he took the bank public, growing its assets from $115 million in 1984 to $2.1 Billion in assets today.

In February of 2023, David announced he would retire as Chairman of Peoples Bank that June.  His son, Benjamin Bochnowski, succeeded him in June of 2023.  Benjamin has served as CEO since 2016.

David has been an advocate for community banks throughout his career and was recognized as a leader in banking.  He served on a Federal Reserve Advisory Committee for two years meeting Chairman Alan Greenspan and members of the Board of Governors.  He was also Chairman of America's Community Bankers, a national trade association that merged with the American Bankers Association.  He was inducted into the inaugural class of Leaders in Banking Excellence, also received lifetime achievement awards from the Northwest Indiana Small Business Development Committee and the Northwest Indiana Urban League, and was awarded the Sagamore of the Wabash, which is Indiana’s greatest citizen recognition.  David also testified before the SEC on the effects of Sarbanes-Oxley.

Throughout his life, David has believed in giving back to his community.  He was the former Chairman of One Region and the Legacy Foundation, a member of the boards of Community Health Care System, Calumet College and Valparaiso University.  He was also a board member and very active in Habitat for Humanity of Northwest Indiana.  Two of his most cherished honors are receiving the Regent’s Award at his undergraduate graduation for his outstanding achievements at the Foreign Service School and being named an outstanding graduate of Howard’s African Studies program.

David raised his 4 children with his wife Ann in Northwest Indiana.  Ben, current CEO and Chairman of Peoples Bank; Julia, a Lawyer; Jim who works for Abbott Labs; and John a musician in England. 

David said, “Mount Carmel enables people to have self-confidence.”  His experience at Mount Carmel helped to lay a foundation for an incredible life!