Dallas Business Journal
By Holden Wilen – Staff Writer, Dallas Business Journal
Aug 5, 2025
Updated
Mandy Austin started a new role on Aug. 4 building a commercial and industrial group for Vista Bank as it looks to continue on its rapid growth trajectory.
Austin joined Dallas-based Vista as its new president of corporate banking. She had most recently worked at Harlingen-based Texas Regional Bank as president of commercial banking and of the North Texas region before leaving at the end of April. Prior to joining Texas Regional Bank in January 2024, Austin spent the first 17 years of her career at Bank of Texas, rising to become its Dallas market president.
After spending the summer with her sons at the family ranch in Oklahoma and in Florida, Austin said she’s ready to get back to work.
“I feel fully rested and enthusiastic about taking this next step in my career journey,” Austin said.
At Vista, Austin will be responsible for building the bank’s C&I team and book of business with middle-market companies across its footprint in Texas and Florida. She said she hopes to hire three lenders over the next year and build on the growth that has already occurred under Russell Hartsfield, who joined Vista in 2022 as president of corporate and sponsored lending after previously spending much of his career at Texas Capital Bank.
With the hiring of Austin, Hartsfield remains an executive vice president with Vista helping to recruit top bankers.
Vista had $2.4 billion in assets, $2.1 billion in deposits and $1.9 billion in loans as of June 30, according to a quarterly filing with the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council. Vista clocked in at No. 5 overall when Dallas Business Journal last ranked the the fastest-growing C&I leaders in Dallas-Fort Worth, based on year-over-year numbers through the third quarter of 2024.
The bank’s C&I portfolio totaled $529.4 million as of June 30, up about 7% from a year prior. About 30% of Vista’s current loan book is in commercial and industrial, Austin said.
“I see that as just the starting point,” she said. “Really, there’s unlimited upside to the volume of commercial and industrial loans that we can do and so I see it growing substantially in the next 12 to 24 months.”
Austin and her team will focus on doing deals between $5 million and $25 million with middle-market companies, she said.
Vista has 12 locations in Dallas, Austin, Fort Worth and Lubbock, as well as Palm Beach, Florida. The bank currently has relatively low market share, Austin said, so she sees “nothing but upside.”
Austin said she chose to join Vista because of the bank’s reputation. Hartsfield helped recruit her and she has also gotten to know Vista CEO John Steinmetz the last four years through the Dallas chapter of YPO, aka the Young Presidents’ Organization, and admired the work he has done building up Vista.
“I think John has a reputation for bringing together very talented bankers, and he’s built a very talented board of directors as well,” Austin said. “His passion and his enthusiasm is contagious, and I knew that I would thrive working in a culture that embodies that spirit.”
Steinmetz joined Vista as president in 2007 and became CEO in 2014. Under his leadership, the bank completed the acquisition of Charis Bank in 2023 and embarked on its expansion into Florida that same year.
Last year, Vista opened a branch near Fair Park, becoming the first bank to open a new location in the long-underserved southern Dallas neighborhood in almost three decades. Austin noted the opening of the southern Dallas branch as an example of Vista’s “community focus.” That, combined with the bank’s “entrepreneurial spirit,” helped make it the right fit for her.
“They’re known for having a very disciplined credit culture, but they’re still innovative and entrepreneurial and have evolved to meet and exceed the expectations of clients, and I just respect that a lot,” Austin said.
Steinmetz said he has always considered Austin one of the “premier bankers” in Dallas and expressed excitement about having her join Vista.
“Mandy is an exceptional leader with a deep expertise in corporate banking, making her the perfect teammate to continue the momentum of hiring the region’s best bankers,” Steinmetz said. “Most of all, I admire Mandy’s genuine passion for people.”