History

History, experience, service-oriented employees, and professional loss control programs are what differentiate Sanger & Altgelt from any other insurance agency. With a focus on integrity and long-lasting business relationships, the company has been building a brand based on the hallmark of trust for over 120 years.

The story began in 1852 when Ernst Hermann Altgelt emigrated from Germany and made his way to San Antonio, where he established his prominence in the real estate industry. Just after the turn of the century, the Altgelt family formed a partnership with Will Sanger, co-founding one of the pioneer insurance agencies in South Texas. Sanger was the owner of a small insurance agency he had founded in 1900, and with the partnership, the company began doing business as Sanger & Altgelt.

In 1947, after serving in the European theater at the end of World War II, Woodward W. Altgelt Jr., joined the agency, leading the development of its reputation for business integrity and civic engagement. Three years later, the Sanger family sold their interests in the partnership and the Altgelts became the owners and principals of the agency.

The company has remained in the Altgelt family for generations. W.W. Altgelt Jr. later sold the business to his daughter, Christine Altgelt Haynes and her husband, Joe Haynes. In 1998, Heather Haynes joined her parents at the company, serving eventually as commercial lines manager and today as president. Mac Altgelt, W.W. Altgelt’s great-grandson, later joined the business and was named CEO. In 2011, a merger brought Sanger & Altgelt together with another longtime, family-owned San Antonio institution, Jefferson Bank. The bank had $900 million in assets and a long history of working with Sanger & Altgelt, which had handled the bank’s insurance needs for 15 years.

Since 1900, Sanger & Altgelt has conducted business with a personal focus and offered its customers, individuals, and businesses alike, the highest level of quality service and insurance to protect their assets with cost-effective solutions. As a new millennium unfolds, it continues to leverage a staff of talented and dedicated employees, their extensive experience, and the agency’s broad assets to deliver value-added products and services to a growing clientele. It has proven to be both a successful business model and a foundation for building trust.