Manager and real estate investor who focuses on maintaining the integrity of historic buildings. Hartley's personal interest in buildings goes back to his childhood, when he’d help his father and grandfather fix up rental properties. But instead of going into real estate, Hartley followed his dad into the music business, promoting records for Columbia Records. In 1977, Hartley started a business with Larry Fitzgerald, managing recording artists, songwriters, and producers. The company, which now includes Hartley’s eldest son, Nick, operates out of several locations: downtown Ventura; Nashville; a Franklin, Tennessee farm; and now a new office in Austin, Texas. Fitzgerald Hartley Company represents such musicians as Olivia Newton-John, Brad Paisley, Vince Gill, Leann Rimes, Robert Cray, Whiskey Falls, Crosby Loggins, Dwight Yoakam, Colbie Caillat, and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. Hartley and a core group of construction and business partners—Jimmy Mesa, Mike Hernandez, Jim Rice, and Peter Livingston—started to cooperate for local revitalization. The Livery complex was Hartley's first commercial renovation in Ventura. The nineteenth-century blacksmith shop became the new offices of Fitzgerald Hartley Company. Hartley is a member of the Cultural Arts Commission, and sits on the board of the Downtown Ventura Organization. He also serves on the advisory boards for the Ventura Music Festival and the San Buenaventura Foundation of the Arts.
