George Hartman was born and raised on Long Island and is the eldest of five children. He has four nephews and two nieces. Some key milestones in his life include watching JFK's assassination on TV in school, graduating from high school and college in the 1970s, and working in the securities industry in the 1980s and 1990s where he witnessed the 9/11 attacks. He describes his life pre-TEAM as aimless and lost but finds the TEAM environment invigorating where he is encouraged to master materials and create collaborations. His first collaboration with TEAM was combining Spanish and Art classes around common themes. His ultimate collaboration expanded to include more disciplines by presenting on the Over the River art project