Harvill bids farewell to AmericanWest

SANDPOINT — A man who has been the epitome of a community banker will retire from the banker part of his job description this Friday to devote even more time to his community.

Tom Harvill hit the ground running here in 1991, when he and his wife, Gerri, and twins Ryan and Tara arrived from Colville. Wash.

The Harvills were happy to finally find Sandpoint — a place where they immediately felt welcomed and a location where they would help many people find homes.

After Harvill graduated from EWU in 1971, he joined the Army for five years. He moved 11 times during his stint in the Army. He then went to work at Rainier Bank in Wenatchee as a collector and then to Colville from 1979 until he moved here. His first job in Sandpoint was as manager of  Security Pacific Bank, now Bank of America. He stayed there until June 2006 when he took over the reigns of AmericanWest Bank.

He will turn in his office key this Friday after an open house at the bank from 1-5 p.m. Ken Wood will be the new manager.

Harvill, 62,  found a profession where he could spend time helping businesses and his friends and neighbors with all of their banking needs while carving out time to help guide the local chapter of Habitat for Humanity.

His vocation and his calling to Habitat are conjoined.

On one hand, he shares how he takes great joy in helping local businesses with the loans they need to grow or to stay alive at the same time he throws into the conversation how Habitat for Humanity has just finished its 14th home here. He mentions how good it feels to help people find a mortgage that fits their personal situations at the same time tosses into the conversation that 14 local families are so much better off owning their Habitat homes and how that is a boon to the economy.

Harvill attended his first Habitat meeting exactly one month after he moved to Sandpoint. He has been the president of the group for more than a decade.

“It’s all about relationships,” Harvill said. “Whether you are talking about bank customers, bank employees or the public. How you build relationships is directly related to how successful a person is.”

He is proud to have finished off his career at AmericanWest.

“This bank is a strong as any bank in the country,” he said. “We have the capital to really make a difference and we are positioned in the community to really help out.” AmericanWest is diversified enough to ride the ups and downs of this unique economy, he said.

AmericanWest employees are sad to see him go. In fact, the vast majority of them have been with him the whole time he has been at the bank.

“I couldn’t have been surrounded by better people,” Harvill said. “I learned along time ago to take care of your people. The funny thing is, they have taken care of me as well.”

He already realizes that he will miss the day-to-day interactions with his employees and the public.

 “I am now seeing kids of customers come in and start their own accounts...that is what happens after 20 years here,” he said. “That has been one of the most gratifying part of this job,”   he said.

“We aren’t going anywhere, Sandpoint is home, so I expect I will run into folks on the street,” he said. “I hope people stop by on Friday so I can thank them for all they have done for me and for allowing me to take care of their banking needs.”

Tom and Gerri aren’t going to ride quietly off into the sunset, though.

She is the associate pastor at the United Methodist Church and soon will be spending five weeks in St. Louis for training. Tom will be there with her. They have been married 42 years and plan on catching up with sailing and other activities that are shelved during a career.

Another important part of Harvill’s life has been his membership in Sandpoint Rotary. He has been a Rotarian 21 years and was president of the local club in 1995.

The Harvills hosted two exchange students through Rotary.

“Our experience made the world smaller,” he said. “I would recommend hosting an exchange student to anyone,” he said.

He added that Rotary — and his friendships and connections that came about because of his membership — has led to lifelong friends.

“You don’t join Rotary to get business,” he said. “You get business by being in Rotary.”

Harvill enjoys the international aspect of Rotary. The worldwide organization has almost eliminated polio from the planet.

During a recent interview Harvill kept reminding himself of many tasks he has to remind his understudy to do after he leaves.

Funny thing, he won’t have to remind Ken Wood about when Habitat meets — Wood  is already on the board of directors of that group. As for Rotary, he is already a member of that group as well.