From first-generation student to banking legend

At 19, high school graduate Harvey Hartenstine had a bright future in the auto paint and body business. He even had an offer to be an assistant body shop manager making $2,000 a month – an impressive sum in 1979.

Instead, he decided to become the first in his family to attend college.

His father, a World War II veteran who died when Hartenstine was nine, had always emphasized the value of education. His mother, a German native who became a widow with six children at age 40, expressed regret about not pursuing her own education.

Hartenstine took those messages to heart and enrolled at San Antonio College.

“I did well and I thought, this is my calling, I’ve got to pursue this,” he said.

An associate degree from SAC was just the beginning. He went on to earn a bachelor’s and two master’s degrees and built a successful career in banking spanning more than four decades.

“Education is so important to me,” he said. “I just think it really takes anybody and everybody to another level.”

Today, Hartenstine is the Interim Chief Executive Officer and President at Broadway Bank. Earlier this year he was inducted into the San Antonio Business Hall of Fame and the Texas Bankers Legacy Hall of Fame at Sam Houston State University. Both honors acknowledge his 44-year career in banking and community leadership.

The foundation for all of it started at SAC, he said.

Hartenstine was strong in math but struggled with reading and writing. Determined to improve, he went to speak to his freshman English instructor, who assured him that he probably knew more than he thought he did. The instructor also assured Hartenstine that if he needed extra help, he would get it.

“I didn’t make an A in that class, but I passed it, and it gave me oodles of confidence to go forward,” he said.

As a college freshman, Hartenstine hadn’t considered a banking career after leaving the auto paint and body business. Through a student job-finding service at SAC, he learned about an opening for a teller at Windsor Park Bank that would allow him to work and study.

“I got the job and that propelled my banking career,” he said. “It will be 45 years in September that I’ve been a banker. It all came out of SAC.”

After SAC, Hartenstine earned his bachelor’s degree from what is now Texas State University, majoring in criminal justice with a minor in finance, all while continuing to work at the bank.

He won a promotion to bank officer and continued working in the industry after graduating, working at Windsor Park Bank for 12 years before moving to Broadway Bank, where he’s risen through the ranks for 33 years.

“I ended up loving banking and here I am,” he said.

He took advantage of Broadway Bank’s employee tuition reimbursement program and earned a master’s degree in international finance from Our Lady of the Lake University. The university’s MBA program met every other weekend, allowing Hartenstine to balance ongoing educational goals with his full-time job and family responsibilities.

Later, as chairman of Broadway Bank, he won a scholarship to pursue a second master’s degree at the Graduate School of Banking at the University of Wisconsin - Madison, which he completed in 2012. After graduating, the school asked him to serve on their advisory board.

“It was an amazing program. I have now sent 16 bankers to that program,” he said.

Hartenstine believes in education so much that he has taught as an adjunct faculty member at the University of the Incarnate Word, Our Lady of the Lake University, Texas State University and SAC.

“The best students to me were the ones at SAC,” he said. “They were there because they wanted to make a difference in their lives — taking classes in the evenings, single parents there trying to make a difference. I was always willing to go the extra mile for all of those students.”

His passion for education is matched by his commitment to giving back to his community.

After his mother passed away in 2018, Hartenstine used his inheritance to create a scholarship endowment for minority students pursuing a finance and accounting master’s program Texas State University.

He also shares his time and talents on local boards, including the Christus Hospital Foundation and the Mission Road Ministries. He and his wife Margaret chaired  a gala for Mission Road last fall that raised $1.3 million for the nonprofit, which serves children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

He’s also active with Crosspoint, Inc., a nonprofit that serves formerly incarcerated men and women as well as individuals experiencing homelessness, mental illness and mental disabilities.

“I have a passion to help people, and that’s in all walks of life,” he said.

Now, as a member of the SAC Centennial Executive Committee, he’s enjoying the opportunity to share his own SAC story and spread the word about the opportunities available here, from scholarship programs to vocational career training.

“SAC really does change lives,” he said. “It definitely changed mine.”

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