Rising star

Despite challenging economic times, the banking industry in central Indiana continues to be stable with many rising stars among its young executives.

And one of the most prominent names among them traces his roots back to Jay County High School and Dunkirk, places that have provided him with many fond memories.

Not yet 40, Dunkirk native Mark Hardwick is executive vice president and chief financial officer of First Merchants Corporation, the largest financial services holding company in the region.

With banking locations in Jay, Delaware, Marion, Hamilton, Adams, Randolph, Wayne and surrounding counties, First Merchants Corporation has 80 locations in 24 Indiana and three Ohio counties.

"The strength of big; the service of small" is its motto.

Hardwick has been with the corporation since 1997, starting out as corporate controller. In April 2002, he was promoted to senior vice president and chief financial officer. In December 2005, he was also named executive vice president. Prior to joining First Merchants Corporation, he served as senior accountant for George S. Olive & Company of Indianapolis from 1994 to 1997.

Mark and his wife of 14 years, Cathy, have two children: Halie, 10, and Bryce, 6.

Education was strongly emphasized in Mark's upbringing by his parents, Rodney and Linda Hardwick, who are both extremely well known in the Dunkirk community. Rodney operates the Dunkirk Barber Shop, and Linda is the secretary for Westlawn Elementary School.

In addition to Mark, 38, Mr. and Mrs. Rod Hardwick have two other sons who are both successful businessmen. Jeff, 41, is vice president of an industrial firm in Indianapolis, and Scott, 36, works for a medical supply company with an office in Indianapolis.

Mark's formal education started at Westlawn. He continued his studies at West Jay Junior High (now West Jay Middle) School, Jay County High School, graduating in 1989, and Ball State University.

And during those formative years, he developed an interest in pursuing banking as a career.

During an interview in his office on the fifth floor of the First Merchants Corporation building in downtown Muncie, Hardwick took a brief break from his hectic schedule and recalled that one of his first memories of choosing banking as a career originated in Portland.

A college student and member of the BSU Cardinals basketball team at the time, Hardwick said he had an opportunity to visit Portland and speak at the Boys Club there. Hardwick had previously starred on the Jay County High School basketball team, so he was already well known in the Portland as well as the Dunkirk community.

"I remember going to talk at the Boys Club in Portland with an assistant basketball coach and a local banker from Muncie, Dave Spade," Hardwick said.

Spade described the Stonier School of Banking as well as banking as a career. "I remember Dave talking about that, and that piqued my interest. Ultimately, I went from public accounting to banking, eventually graduating from the Stonier School of Banking myself."

Hardwick said he was very thankful for people like Spade and his teachers from Westlawn, West Jay, JCHS, and Ball State for taking the time to help him along the way.

"I thank the teachers in elementary, junior high and high school as well as people like Dave who took the time to speak to young people like those at the Boys Club in Portland," Hardwick said. They all make an impact on your life, he added.

"And that adds to all the things your parents are able to do for you," Hardwick said.

Although he credits his parents with a lot of hard work and help toward his being successful, Mark commented, "I don't think it's possible for any mom or dad to give you everything that you need. God puts different people in your life for different reasons. ... I have a lot of people to thank for the success I've had."

Also looking back on his early years, Mark noted that Jay County and Dunkirk were good places to grow up.

"Jay County is a neat county," he said, adding that more than 1,000 people would come to each JCHS basketball game when he was playing there, and whenever any of them saw him on the street, they would offer him words of encouragement. "That's one of the positive benefits of living in a small town like Dunkirk or Portland, compared to a larger city like Indianapolis," he said.

"I enjoyed growing up in a small town," Mark continued, noting that it gives a young person a lot more personal freedom.

"Because Dunkirk was so small, you could jump on your bicycle and go from one end of town to the other," he said. "Everyone knew each other, so usually someone was looking out for your well being."

Also since his dad's barbershop was a central point in the community, Mark could always stop there and say hello to his father, and sort of check in with him. "Otherwise, most of the time you could find me on a basketball court," Mark said.

"I remember walking home from Westlawn School everyday - stopping at the barber shop to check-in and then Watson's (Sporting Goods), perhaps to look at a baseball glove which I was planning to buy," Mark said. In addition for a while he had a paper route, delivering the afternoon Muncie Evening Press on his bicycle. Since it was a Dunkirk-based route, Mark said that he was always close enough to home that his mom and dad knew where he was.

And in those days, the carriers were required to personally collect money from the subscribers door-to-door. "That allowed me to learn some responsibility and how to handle the financial aspects of a small job like that," Mark said.

He added that collecting for the paper route also taught him how to be persistent, as sometimes you had to go back to a house several times while collecting.

In addition Mark said, "I learned to save money for things like that baseball glove at Watson's, so I could buy it myself."

And from those days of collecting $1.25 a week from his paper route customers, Mark is now responsible for making decisions involving much more sizeable amounts of money. To quote from the Bible, he noted, "If you can be trusted with a little, you can be trusted with much."

Mark continued that while growing up in Dunkirk, he was also impressed with the quality of the teachers at Westlawn, West Jay and JCHS. Their willingness to encourage success, and be concerned about what every kid who passed through their classroom cared about - that's something which Mark said he still remembers about the Jay County schools. "The teachers cared about me and my ability to learn and grow," he said.

And of course, another good part of his childhood memories focuses on the Dunkirk Barber Shop where he received nearly all of his haircuts, with the exception of those he got from his dad on the back porch of his house once in a while.

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