Featured Speakers

Kevin Gillen is a senior housing economist with CoreLogic, where he is responsible for the design and updating of the monthly House Price Index Forecast. He received his Ph.D. in applied economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 2005, where he won both the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Dissertation award and the Lincoln Land Institute’s Dissertation Fellowship award. His articles have appeared in numerous peer-reviewed academic publications in the areas of urban economics and real estate finance. He retains an affiliation with his alma mater as a Research Fellow with the University of Pennsylvania’s Institute for Urban Research. Besides his work for CoreLogic on HPI forecasting, he also works closely with CoreLogic’s analytics team in the area of modeling housing and mortgage market behavior.

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Day 2 Keynote Speaker

John M. Hollenbeck
Executive Vice President
First American Title Insurance Company

John Hollenbeck is executive vice president of First American Title Insurance Company and has been with the company for more than 30 years. In his present role, he provides corporate oversight of First American's home office Underwriting Department; its agency business nationwide; and its subsidiary, First American Professional Real Estate Services, Inc.

Hollenbeck has held various positions with First American over his 29-year career with the company. He began his career with First American in 1980, working as a title searcher in the Riverside, California, office. In 1983, he moved to the Orange County title branch and served as a title officer and production manager. In 1989, Hollenbeck moved to the home office in Santa Ana, California, where he assumed the position of assistant senior underwriter. He was named senior underwriter in 1994 and, in 1997, he took the newly created position of national title processes director, where he was charged with improving efficiencies across all title operations. Hollenbeck has served as executive vice president of First American Title Insurance Company since 2004.

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Justin Ailes
Vice President of Government Affairs
American Land Title Association

Justin Ailes is director of Government Affairs for the American Land Title Association (ALTA), responsible for federal and state government affairs, legislative and regulatory advocacy, ALTA's political action committee (TIPAC) and grassroots engagement. Justin also focuses on enhancing ALTA's partnership with state land title associations on behalf of the title insurance industry.

Before joining ALTA, Justin served as a liaison between the federal government and state of Indiana as deputy federal representative for Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels. Prior to that, he spent six years on the staff of U.S. Senator Richard Lugar following time as a legislative assistant in the Indiana State Senate. Justin received a Bachelor of Arts degree in political sience and international relations from the University of Indianapolis.

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John Arcidiacono
Senior Vice President of Marketing & Communications
Stewart Information Services Corporation

A 20-plus year advertising and marketing veteran, John Arcidiacono has been senior vice president of marketing for Stewart Information Services Corporation for over three years. He is responsible for all marketing activities, including branding, advertising, public relations, events, sales support, crisis management, web presence, interactive marketing and technology marketing. Under his direction, the Stewart marketing in-house team operates as a full-service advertising and public relations agency servicing Stewart Title and its subsidiaries, including Stewart’s affiliate operations and network of independent agencies across the United States.

John brings a wealth of advertising and brand expertise to the Stewart organization. Prior to joining Stewart, he was vice president of Market Development with Idea Integration, an interactive marketing firm, and served as a marketing consultant for clients including HP, Iomega Corporation, Transwestern Commercial Properties and Memorial Hermann|TIRR. He has also worked at two full-service advertising agencies; McCann Erickson, one of the largest agencies in the nation, and Rives Carlberg, which was Houston’s largest locally-owned agency.

John has helped increase sales and awareness through national branding campaigns for the clients listed above and Texas Instruments, Mahindra Tractors and the Houston Chronicle. This diverse client base has given him a broad range of expertise in business-to-business, trade and consumer advertising, and given him comprehensive experience in TV, radio, print, outdoor, web, events, PR and guerilla marketing.

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Steve Black Jeffrey Arouh
Partner
Holland & Knight LLP

Jeffrey A. Arouh, one of the nation’s leading RESPA and settlement services attorneys, is a partner in the New York City office of Holland & Knight LLP.

Jeffrey is a graduate of the University of Michigan with a Bachelor of Arts in economics, and the New York University School of Law, with a Juris Doctor (cum laude), where he was an editor of the Law Review and received numerous academic awards.

He has practiced in the real estate, title insurance, settlement services and executive relocation areas for several years, and represents developers, title insurance agencies, title insurance underwriters, lenders, real estate brokers and appraisers, among others. Jeffrey is a frequent lecturer at seminars and conferences, where he has addressed numerous legal issues relating to legal compliance, business operations and transactions involving real estate, title, mortgage banking and consumer finance.

Jeffrey has been published in HR, Mobility, National Relocation & Real Estate magazines, The Practical Lawyer and Corporate Relocation News and he has been interviewed and quoted in numerous industry and trade publications. Jeffrey’s complete biography is available at www.hklaw.com.

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Brian Benson
Vice-President of Sales, Title and Settlement Services
CoreLogic, Inc.

Brian Benson heads a national sales division within CoreLogic, the nation’s #1 source of real estate information and analytics solutions to the real estate and financial services industry.

Brian has played instrumental leadership roles within the organization since coming to what was then Experian Real Estate Solutions in 1997 just prior to its acquisition by First American. His expertise spans title, lending, commercial and residential real estate brokerage, vendor management, appraisal and secondary market operations, among others. He has an outstanding record of managing his teams to sales overachievement and revenue growth, and is a 10-time member of the coveted “President’s Club.” Brian helped execute large-scale acquisitions of Transamerica Intellitech and Basis100; he has also helped drive product development for marketing, market share, risk mitigation and ecommerce in the title and mid-market lending segments.

A 1985 graduate of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, Brian had a broad assortment of leadership ventures in Hawaii, Alaska, France, Japan and West Africa. He has also had successful sales and marketing management experience with USA Today/Gannett News Service and United Parcel Service before embarking upon his career with CoreLogic.

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Steve Black
President
The Accurate Group of Texas

Steve Black is president of The Accurate Group of Texas and senior vice president of Accurate Title Group. He oversees the company’s Texas title and closing service center, as well as the national closing operation located in Houston, Texas. Steve is responsible for positioning Accurate to operate efficiently and effectively without compromise to performance or their exceptional client experience. Client retention and new client acquisition is also embedded as a core function of his role at Accurate.

Steve has over 20 years experience in the title and settlement service industries. He is recognized as an experienced visionary with the ability to create and implement innovative solutions to meet client needs. He has been tapped by several companies during his career for identifying, initiating and managing new business opportunities in diverse operational areas including IT, client services, valuations, as well as high capacity national settlement operations.

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Patrick Connor
Executive Vice President, Manager, National Services Group
Old Republic Title Insurance Group

Patrick A. Connor, executive vice president and manager of the National Services Group of the Old Republic Title Insurance Group, joined Old Republic in 1988 when his family’s Columbus, Ohio-based company was acquired by Old Republic. After serving as vice president and operations manager for the Columbus branch and later its president, Pat was appointed manager of the East-Central Region of Old Republic National Title Insurance Company and in 2003, appointed to his current role. Prior to working in the title industry, Pat worked in corporate banking.

In his current role, Pat is responsible for all direct national business operations within Old Republic’s Title Insurance Group, including national residential and commercial title and settlement services, National Agency Services, Default Management, Relocation, 1031 Exchange, Commercial Site Management Services and various other ancillary national business units and subsidiaries.

Pat is a graduate of The Ohio State University and when not on airplanes, lives with his wife and four children in Columbus, Ohio.

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Chris Crowell
Editor
The Title Report

Chris Crowell is the editor of The Title Report, a publication of October Research. Chris brings tremendous research and social media skills to his position as editor, and also acts as a moderator for October Research Webinars. He received a bachelor’s degree in communications from Walsh University in Canton, Ohio, and a master’s degree in magazine journalism from Kent State University. He has been a trade journalism editor for more than three years.

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Vincent Danzi
General Counsel
Equity Settlement Services, Inc.

Vincent Danzi graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a bachelor’s degree in history in 1995 and earned his law degree in 2000 from the State University of New York at Buffalo. Prior to law school, Vincent was a licensure investigator for the Texas State Board of Medical Examiners. Since law school, he has worked in the title insurance and settlement services industry. He is currently general counsel of Equity Settlement Services, Inc., a multi-state title and settlement services provider, directly issuing title insurance in 35 states. Outside this role, he has served in an of-counsel and outside expert capacity on RESPA and other compliance and claim issues. Additionally, he is a database application and user interface developer. Vincent first contributed to an article (on computer programming in A+/InCider magazine) at age 14 and continues to lecture, write and otherwise contribute to the publications, newsletters and seminars of such organizations as the New York State Land Title Association, TAVMA, October Research and Gators, and is a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of The Legal Description.

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Michael Draminski, MCM
Departmental Analyst, Market Conduct Section
Office of Financial and Insurance Regulation

Mike is a departmental analyst for the Market Conduct Section of the Office of Financial and Insurance Regulation within Michigan’s Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs. Twelve of Mike’s 14 years in the insurance industry are title insurance related. Mike has held positions as an examiner, operations manager, independent agency manager and a senior agency representative for LandAmerica Financial Group. As a field abstractor supervisor for ASK Inc., Mike was responsible for the title abstracting activities in five states, including, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, North Carolina and South Carolina. Mike holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Michigan State University.

In addition to conducting investigations and market conduct examinations of insurance companies, Mike has been involved with several working groups with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), including the Title Insurance Market Conduct and Mortgage Fraud Working Group and the Title Statistical Plan Working Group. Mike has worked directly on the development of the Title Statistical Plan, as well as the accompanying Implementation Guideline that is still under development.

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Joe Drum
Executive Vice President
WFG National Title Insurance Company

Joe has over 35 years experience in the title insurance industry. He was president of United General Title Insurance Company and executive vice president at First American Title Insurance Company and Fidelity National Title Insurance Company, where he was in charge of all agency operations and strategic initiatives for several brands. Prior to that, he served in the Jesuit Volunteer Corps with the Peace Corp in the West Indies, taught English and mathematics in New Jersey, and was a quarter finalist in the Nebraska Golden Gloves 1968 and 1969.

Joe is a co-author of three books: “Understanding RESPA (Library of Congress No. 94-78352),” “Understanding Reg X,” and “Mortgage Financing.” He was a comedy writer for political impressionist Jim Morris and was a contributing writer to “Comic Relief” in 1990 and 1991. Joe also co-wrote an “Off” Broadway comedy with Jim Morris in 1993.

Joe is a member of the Boston Bar Association, the Massachusetts Conveyancers Association, the Connecticut Bar Association and the New England Corporate Counsel Association, past chairman of the Real Estate Committee of the Westchester and Fairfield County American Corporate Counsel Association, and past president of The New England Land Title Association. Joe received his undergraduate degree from Hiram Scott College/University of Nebraska in 1971, where he was appointed by President Nixon to serve on the U.S. Justice Department’s Advisory Committee on the Student Riots of Kent State. He received his Juris Doctorates from the University of Bridgeport and The Quinnipiac College of Law, New Haven, Connecticut, and successfully completed the executive post-graduate program at M.I.T.’s Center for Real Estate Studies.

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Syndie Eardly
Editorial Director
October Research

Syndie is the editorial director for October Research, managing the day to day editorial function and content for The Title Report, The Legal Description, Valuation Review, RESPA News, and the newly launched Dodd Frank Update. She joined the company in April 2003 as editor of The Legal Description andwas promoted to editorial director in 2005. As editorial director, she is in charge of hiring and training new editors and writers, coordinating the production of nearly 600 e-mail news campaigns each year, and overseeing the annual production from concept to print of more than 100 print publications for the five newsletters and special reports.

Syndie has also served as seminars director for the company, overseeing the content for Webinars, regional training meetings and the 10 national conferences the company has produced since 2005. In addition, she is a frequent speaker on October Research Webinars, live conferences and at various industry trade shows.

Prior to joining October Research, Syndie was the communications director for the Cleveland Bar Association, managing a staff of writers and production artists to produce daily and weekly e-mail newsletters, a monthly legal journal and an annual directory, as well as overseeing the production of all press releases and promotional materials. In addition, she brings over 20 years of journalism experience to her position including five years as a writer/editor for Ohio Lawyers Weekly newspaper.

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Ann Fulmer
Vice President of Business Relations
Interthinx

Ann Fulmer, J.D., is an internationally recognized mortgage fraud expert, thought leader and speaker. Ann has been widely quoted in publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post and USA Today, and has appeared on national news programs, including ABC World News Tonight, Bloomberg Television, CNN, and Fox Business Channel. She testified before the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, is co-author of the quarterly Interthinx Mortgage Fraud Risk Report and has written numerous articles for mortgage banking publications.

Ann was identified by People Magazine as “perhaps the savviest mortgage-fraud sleuth anywhere,” and was named as one of Inman News' “100 Most Influential People in Real Estate” in 2005. She has helped authorities develop criminal cases resulting in more than 200 convictions and is frequently asked for assistance in identifying and analyzing emerging fraud schemes. Ann is vice president of Business Relations, Interthinx, and currently resides in Arlington, Virginia.

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William (Bill) E. Garber, Jr.
Director of Government and External Relations
Appraisal Institute

Bill Garber is the director of Government and External Relations for the Appraisal Institute (AI), where he serves as head of the AI Washington operations. As director, he represents the interests of AI members before Congress, federal agencies, and state agencies and outreach to aligned real estate organizations.

Bill has expertise in a range of real estate issues, including residential and commercial valuation and finance, economic development and land use, conservation and historic preservation issues, valuation for financial reporting, securitization, and real estate asset management. He serves as the liaison to the Appraisal Institute's Government Relations Committee, Client Advisory Board, and Residential Appraiser Council, and as treasurer of the Appraisal Institute Political Action Committee. Bill is a confidential industry informant to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and is a frequent speaker before government agencies and industry organizations.

Bill has more than 15 years of association lobbying and management experience in the real estate and economic development professions. He has a Bachelor of Science degree from Oregon State University, and is currently seeking a master's degree in public administration from Walden University.

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Ward Graham
Senior Massachusetts Underwriting Counsel
WFG National Title Insurance Company

Ward P. Graham, Esq., has been an underwriting and claims counsel in the title insurance industry for 24 years, most recently joining WFG National Title Insurance Company as senior Massachusetts underwriting counsel. Ward received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Tufts University and his J.D. from Suffolk University Law School. After a tour of duty as a U.S. Naval Judge Advocate, Ward spent several years in private practice, concentrating in the areas of real estate conveyancing and probate before entering the title insurance industry.

Ward has participated in numerous seminars on topics of real estate law and title insurance and was a guest lecturer for several years for the Real Estate Litigation course at Suffolk University Law School. Ward is a member of the Massachusetts and New Hampshire Bar Associations, as well as the Real Estate Bar Association for Massachusetts, for which he serves on the Title Standards and Legislation Committees. He is also a member of the Abstract Club, a past president of the New England Land Title Association and a contributing author to the Massachusetts continuing legal education publication, “Real Estate Title Practice in Massachusetts” (specifically, Chapter 4 on Title Insurance). Ward’s focus throughout his career in the title insurance industry has always been on legal education and creative solutions to title problems in order to facilitate real estate transactions. He has been quoted by several national publications, including USA Today and The Boston Globe, on the recent Ibanez ruling.

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Carl Grimes
Owner-Broker
CBI-Sunbelt Business Advisors of the Ozarks

Carl Grimes is the owner-broker of CBI-Sunbelt Business Advisors of the Ozarks. He received the designation of CBI (Certified Business Intermediary) from the International Business Brokers Association. He is also president of the Professional Association of Arkansas Business Brokers, the statewide organization for business brokers in the state of Arkansas. He is a licensed real estate broker for the states of Arkansas and Missouri.

Carl has participated in the sale of more than 400 businesses in his career as a professional business broker. He has handled transactions over $6 million and as small as under $10,000. Carl was a successful businessman prior to beginning his career in business brokerage. He published an award winning newspaper, built and operated a state-of-the-art cable television system, and owned a real estate firm, a retail catalog sales business and an abstract and title company. He successfully sold all his businesses to enter the field of business brokerage. Carl's areas of specialty include abstract and title companies, newspapers, magazines and other print businesses, the motorsports industry and the cable television industry. He has been in business in northwest Arkansas since 1984. He is a graduate of the inaugural class of Leadership Fayetteville, a program conducted by the Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce.

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Paul E. Kaboth
Assistant Vice President, Supervision and Regulation
Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland

Paul Kaboth is an assistant vice president in the Banking Supervision and Regulation Department at the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. He is responsible for specialty examinations in the risk areas of credit, market and liquidity, operations, and corporate compliance for Fourth District state member banks and bank holding companies.

Paul has been with the Cleveland Bank since 1986, beginning his career as a field examiner. Since then, he has held positions of increasing responsibility within Supervision and Regulation, including serving as an applications analyst, the department’s chief enforcement examiner, as well as supervising both safety and soundness and consumer affairs field examiners. Additionally, Paul was responsible for the department’s support functions that included strategic planning and budgeting, information technology support, training and development, and the office administrative staff. Most recently, Paul was responsible for the institutional compliance with consumer compliance regulations as well as the Community Reinvestment Act.

Paul holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.

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Mitchel Kider
Managing Member
Weiner Brodsky Sidman Kider PC

Mitch Kider is a founding member of Weiner Brodsky Sidman Kider PC and has served as the firm’s chairman since its inception.

A litigator by trade, Mitch has defended clients in more than 100 class action lawsuits in federal and state courts throughout the country. In addition, he has provided representation on both the plaintiff and defense side of complex commercial cases, including mortgage loan fraud and repurchase cases. Mitch’s practice includes the representation of banks, mortgage companies, homebuilders, credit card issuers and other financial service companies in a broad range of regulatory and compliance matters, as well. He represents clients in investigative and enforcement actions before HUD, VA, DOJ, FTC, Ginnie Mae, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and various state and local regulatory authorities and AG offices.

Mitch acts as outside general counsel to smaller companies and special regulatory and litigation counsel to Fortune 500 companies. He is a frequent speaker on industry matters and is a Faculty Fellow of the Mortgage Bankers Association of America. Mitch has written extensively on issues involving lenders and other settlement service providers and is the author of six books.

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Jim Kletke
Of Counsel
Westcor Land Title Insurance Company

Jim Kletke graduated from Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa, with a degree in history. He entered law school at the University of Texas and after a two-year hiatus as a draftee during the Vietnam era, returned and graduated from UT in 1970, having specialized in oil and gas law. Migrating to Houston at that time, Jim began his career with Houston Title as a searcher and examiner.

After a short time with Houston Title, he took a position with Southern Title Insurance Company in Houston, a small domestic insurer and title agency, where he had several mentors in all facets of the title business: abstracting, examination, legal issues and escrow. He was then asked to join the legal department of Stewart Title Guaranty Company at its headquarters in Houston. Initially hired to supervise filing applications for licenses in various states for Stewart’s national expansion, Jim was offered the position of Texas agency manager, supervising about 200 agents in the state of Texas and interacting with the regulators in the Texas Insurance Department.

After several years, Jim left Stewart to practice law with a Miami, Florida, law firm. He then returned to Stewart to become chief underwriting counsel, a position that he had for several years. He retired from Stewart at the end of 2009. Jim served as a director of the Texas Land Title Association, a member of the ALTA Claims Administration Committee and a member and chairman of the TLTA Title Counsel Committee. He has spoken at innumerable title insurance educational programs, both on a state and national level. After a brief period of semi-retirement, Jim is now of counsel for Westcor Land Title Insurance Company. He splits his time between Washington, D.C., and New Orleans, assisting Westcor in underwriting and agency development on both a local and national scale.

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Paul Mass
President
ClosingCorp, Inc.

Having served as an investor and member of the ClosingCorp board of directors, Paul currently handles key responsibilities for the company’s day-to-day activities and the long-term strategic direction. Paul brings a broad base of legal and business experience, particularly in startup ventures, operations and finance, in both regulated and unregulated industries.

Between 1987 and 1997, Paul served as chief operating officer of CableSouth, Inc. He and ClosingCorp Chief Executive Officer Tony Farwell built the company into a highly-profitable southeastern MSO, which was sold to Charter Communications in 1995. Paul helped spearhead CableSouth’s successful expansion into radio through its subsidiary, BayCom Partners, LP. Paul and Tony also co-founded TV Data Technologies, LP, the world’s largest TV listings and entertainment information provider, later sold to the Tribune Company. Paul also serves as president of Mass Ventures, a closely-held LLC, through which he manages private equity investments. Through Mass Ventures, Paul co-founded and served as chief business officer, treasurer and a member of the board of directors of The Althexis Company, a startup drug discovery firm. More recently, Paul co-founded and served as president and a board member of Main Street Broadband LLC.

Paul began his career in 1977 as a corporate attorney with the Atlanta law firm of Long & Aldridge. In 1981, Paul was hired as vice president and general counsel of Cable America, Inc. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Duke University in 1974, magna cum laude, and a Juris Doctorate from the Emory University School of Law in 1977.

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Kelly McCarel
Seminars Director
October Research

Kelly McCarel is the seminars director at October Research, where she manages the company’s Webinars program and oversees content and educational materials for October Research’s live events. She is a former editor of RESPA News, the first and only online publication dedicated to covering all of the issues and news related to the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, and was instrumental in researching and shaping content direction for October Research’s newest product, the Dodd Frank Update.

Prior to joining October Research, Kelly worked in a corporate environment, serving as a communications specialist and handling much of the company’s internal communications and marketing efforts. She has served as editor of the Cleveland Bar Journal at the Cleveland Bar Association, and as associate editor of a statewide legal newspaper in Ohio.

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David Moore
President
D.W. Moore & Associates, Inc.

David W. Moore is a title and escrow professional and an independent consultant specializing in real estate research, training and problem analysis. He is a licensed title insurance agent in the state of Utah, having been continuously licensed since 1974, qualified in both title and escrow. In 1972, he qualified as a Registered Abstractor and has been a title researcher and escrow closer for over 41 years.

David has extensive experience with historical land and government records throughout the United States. He is certified as a provider of prelicense and continuing education training for insurance and real estate professionals, together with a variety of associated industries. He has extensive experience in all aspects of real estate transactions, property management, title analysis and environmental reviews. He has conducted educational and training seminars for over 35 years. David has been an expert witness in a wide variety of cases and has worked extensively with many attorneys in numerous lawsuits.

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Stewart Morris, Jr.
President and Co-Chief Executive Officer
Stewart Information Services Corporation
President
Stewart Title Company

As president and co-CEO of Stewart Information Services Corp. and president of Stewart Title Co., Stewart Morris, Jr. is responsible for the affiliated title offices, real estate information companies and technology companies. He joined Stewart Title Co. in 1973. He was elected vice president of Stewart Title Co. in 1975 and president of Stewart Title Co. in 1991. Stewart was also elected chairman of Stewart Title Guaranty Co. in 1991 and became senior chairman in 2007. He became an advisory director of Stewart Information Services Corp. in 1997 and was elected to the board as president and co-CEO in February 2000.

Stewart is a real estate information industry leader in technology for productivity and e-commerce as well as a host of settlement services needed to close real estate transactions, which is key to Stewart’s future. He has often spoken at real estate conferences such as Title Tech, ALTA, ALTA Technology Expo, Real Estate Connect, Vision 2000, the National Association of Realtors®, ATIM and other industry forums on the subject of technology, the real estate transaction process and e-commerce. Stewart has been occasionally invited to speak about real estate information and the title insuring and closing processes at the Jones School of Business, Rice University as well as participating in the Jones Partners Thought Leadership Series. He was the recipient of the “2001 Outstanding Achievement Award” from Settlement Services Today, as well as being named to the 100 Most Influential Real Estate Leaders in 2006 by Inman News.

Morris served as a member of the advisory council of Fannie Mae for the years 2000 and 2001, and served for five years on the Board of the Housing Roundtable. He also previously served as a director for RealEC. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Rice University in 1971 and received a Master of Business Administration from the University of Texas in 1973.

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Timothy Mullin, CLTP
Managing Member
Counselors Title

Timothy C. Mullin, CLTP is one of the founding members of Counselors Title LLC. Tim currently serves as the company's managing member. Tim has an extensive background in real estate. While attending the University of Maryland in College Park, Tim earned his Maryland Real Estate license.

In 1992, after a successful stint as a Realtor, property manager and new homes consultant, Tim joined the Rockville office of Universal Title. During his tenure at Universal, Tim worked with a variety of clients including Realtors, lenders and some of the Washington area's most distinguished homebuilders. In the fall of 2000, Tim and several colleagues at Universal purchased the company from a large national title insurance underwriter. The subsequent growth of the company to 19 offices offered Tim the opportunity to become a regional vice president overseeing the company's largest and most profitable region.

In the fall of 2005, Tim and his partners sold Universal to another of the largest title underwriters in the nation and soon thereafter the name was changed to Universal Settlements. Tim remained a regional vice president at Universal Settlements until September of 2007. Tim is one of the few licensed title agents in Maryland to receive the industry designation of Certified Land Title Professional.

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Raelin Musuraca
Senior Vice President
Skalstad Consulting Inc.

Raelin Musuraca is a 20-year marketing veteran focused on leveraging digital and social media strategies to deliver greater customer experiences. During her career, Raelin has led dynamic growth and change for a variety of firms, ranging from one of the country's top 100 digital advertising agencies to the independent vendor management firm National Real Estate Information Services. Raelin's consultative approach is also molded by cross-discipline studies at Carnegie Mellon University, where she studied information architecture and user-centered design. She is currently senior vice president with Skalstad Consulting Inc., where she works with clients to refine and integrate the customer experience along all touch points beginning with marketing and then diving deep into the organization.

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Mary O'Donnell
President and Chief Executive Officer
Westcor Land Title Insurance Company

Mary O’Donnell is president and chief executive officer of Westcor Land Title Insurance Company, a title insurance underwriter with its headquarters located in Winter Park, Florida. Westcor is currently licensed in 39 states. Westcor is an agent-based independent underwriter committed to aggressive expansion through relationships with independent entrepreneurial agents. As CEO, Mary is responsible for all aspects of the company’s operations and growth, as well as personally handling all multi-state regulatory matters.

Mary was born in Liverpool, England. She graduated with honors from the University of Sheffield, College of Law, Yorkshire, England in 1984 (LLB 1984). She is admitted to practice law in the states of New York and Florida. Prior to entering the title insurance industry, she practiced law in New York, representing lenders in commercial and residential real estate transactions. In February of 1989, she entered the title insurance industry with a regional underwriter and became assistant general counsel. Her duties included underwriting and handling insurance claims. She wrote the national and Florida underwriting manuals for American Pioneer Title Insurance Company, developed underwriting and claims standards for the company, and trained employees and agents in title insurance matters.

Mary has taught part of the Real Property and Probate Section certification course. She served on the Florida Land Title’s Forms and Continuing Education Committee, as well as the Government Affairs Committee. She is one of the authors of the Florida Land Title’s “Title Insurance Handbook.” She is a member of the American Bar Association, the New York State Bar Association and the Florida Bar Association.

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Charlene Perry
Owner
The Preferred Title Group, Inc.

Charlene Perry is owner of The Preferred Title Group, Inc., a full service title insurance agency specializing in the transfer of property out of REO and title clearance in advance of marketing REO properties. She is a recipient of the Fannie Mae Signature Award for providing excellence in Title Services. She is also a member of the Maryland Land Title Association (MLTA) and serves on the Industry Enhancement Committee, which is currently working on a Bill of Rights for Consumers in Title and Settlement Services.

Charlene is a frequent contributor and speaker for MLTA seminars specific to REO and foreclosures and a contributor and speaker for various real estate industry continuing education seminars specific to REO and foreclosures. She has worked in the title insurance industry for more than 25 years, with the last 13 as an REO title specialist.

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Joseph Petrelli
President
Demotech, Inc.

Joseph L. Petrelli’s involvement in title insurance dates back to 1986 when he completed his MBA research project at The Ohio State University, An Actuarial Perspective on Title Insurance. Joe and his wife, Sharon Romano, co-founded Demotech, Inc. in 1985. In 1992, Demotech, Inc. became the first company to promulgate title underwriter Financial Stability Ratings® (FSRs) and today it continues to rate and review more title underwriters than any other company.

In 1996, when the National Association of Insurance Commissioners introduced the statement of actuarial opinion in regards to loss and loss adjustment expense reserves of title underwriters, Joe worked with the Conference of Consulting Actuaries to coordinate the first seminar to familiarize actuaries and independent auditors with the nuances of title underwriter loss and loss adjustment expense reserves.

Demotech has published Demotech Performance of Title Insurance Companies for nearly 10 years. In 2006, Joe authored What We Have Here is a Failure to Communicate, a white paper describing the financial reporting nuances and coverage distinctions that impede the industry’s effort to demonstrate the value proposition of title insurance. In addition to his knowledge and experience in title insurance, Joe has over 40 years of progressively responsible property and casualty actuarial experience. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in actuarial science from the College of Risk Management and Insurance at St. John’s University and a Master of Business Administration degree from The Ohio State University.

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Joseph Piernock
President
Corporate Development Services

Joe Piernock is the president of Corporate Development Services (CDS). CDS specializes in business valuation and expert testimony for the title insurance industry, and has completed over 450 valuations for all sizes of title agencies, insurers and plants. In addition to business valuation, Joe tackles those projects whose circumstances require advanced analysis.

Prior to consulting, Joe spent 20 years with ARCO, where he conducted dozens of large and complex “buy” and “sell” valuations. The total value of these analyses totaled many billions of dollars over all sorts of industries and jurisdictions. Joe also held positions in marketing, finance, business development, manufacturing, governmental affairs and engineering, which explains his “all business” approach to valuation. He holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, a Master of Science degree in engineering from Carnegie Mellon and a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering from Villanova.

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Loretta Salzano
Founding Partner
Franzén and Salzano PC

Loretta Salzano founded Franzén and Salzano in 1996 and manages the firm’s state and federal compliance practice. In 2009, Loretta and her law partner, Terry Franzén launched ComplyShare, a mortgage quality control and compliance company.

Loretta spends a great deal of her time advising banks, mortgage lenders and other settlement service providers on how to increase their business while remaining within the confines of state and federal laws including, but not limited to, the Dodd-Frank Act, TILA, RESPA, ECOA and HMDA. Loretta advises her clients regarding licensure, advertising, marketing, fees, disclosures, reporting, fair lending and other matters related to their products and services. She drafts and negotiates contracts, including but not limited to loan purchase and sale agreements, warehouse line agreements and servicing agreements. Loretta also assists clients in responding to regulatory examinations and actions. She is a frequent speaker on mortgage lending and related issues.

Loretta serves as Legal Counsel to the Mortgage Bankers Association of Georgia and on the Mortgage Bankers Association of America’s Regulatory Compliance and Legal Issues Committee and its State Legislative and Regulatory Committee. She is Martindale-Hubbell’s Financial Law Panelist for Ask a Lawyer, and her firm serves as the Georgia editor to Houselaw. Loretta received her bachelor’s degree with high distinction from the University of Michigan and graduated from the University of Michigan Law School.

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Brent Scheer
Chief Financial Officer
Agents National Title Insurance Company

Brent Scheer is the chief financial officer and chief operating officer of Agents
National Title Insurance Company in Columbia, Missouri, and a licensed CPA. He graduated from Missouri State University in Springfield, Missouri, with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting in 1995. Before joining Agents National Title in 2006, he worked in governmental audit, internal audit, cost accounting and public accounting. His career in public accounting focused on small businesses in the areas of audit, tax, business valuation, consulting and litigation support. He is currently serving as chair of the American Land Title Association Accounting Committee.

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Paul Schieber
Shareholder
Stevens & Lee P.C.

Paul Schieber is a shareholder of the law firm Stevens & Lee in Philadelphia. He concentrates his practice in the area of consumer financial services and retail banking. He represents banks, thrift institutions, credit unions, mortgage companies, loan servicers, finance companies, secondary market investors, real estate and title insurance companies, and other financial services providers and investors.

Schieber serves clients in areas such as: mortgage, home equity and consumer loan, lease and credit sale transactions; loan servicing; litigation strategies and defense; subprime lending compliance; due diligence and related portfolio securitization, acquisition and secondary market matters; federal and state regulatory compliance, including RESPA, Truth in Lending and usury; warehouse lending; mergers and acquisitions; data privacy and security; fair lending; electronic commerce; licensing; lender liability prevention and defense; credit card agreements; and mobile banking.

Prior to entering private practice in 1986, Schieber served as the executive director of the Public Housing Authorities Directors Association in Washington, D.C. He was also a legislative assistant in Governor Hugh Carey's New York State Office of Federal Affairs and to Congressman James Scheuer.

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Jeff Schurman, CAE
Leadership Consultant,
Leading Causes, LLC

Jeff Schurman is the founder of Leading Causes, LLC, a leadership and business development consultancy that helps service businesses to do in practice what they say they do in selling situations. This includes assessing current business models, strategic and tactical plans and interviewing company managers, employees, suppliers and customers to find ways to better align organizations to the direction set by leadership, with an eye to the future. Jeff also serves as an administrator for non-profit groups, and is a part-time lecturer in Business Administration at the University of Pittsburgh.

Jeff is the former executive director of the Title Appraisal Vendor Management Association (TAVMA), the trade association of the real estate settlement services industry. In this role, he was responsible for all aspects of operating a non-profit organization, including website, newsletter, blog content, meetings and trade shows, including the National Settlement Services Forum and annual golf outing.

Jeff is a frequent conference speaker, panel moderator, and lecturer on a wide range of topics relating to entrepreneurship, business development, managing supplier/client relationships, and fusing new-age information technology with old-school leadership and management into goods and services that customers will buy. Jeff serves as the president of the Board of Directors of the Pittsburgh Pastoral Institute, and is a member of the World Future Society, and American Society of Association Executives, where he holds the Certified Association Executive (CAE) credential. Jeff obtained a Master of Arts degree in Leadership and Liberal Studies from Duquesne University and a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration and Management from La Roche College.

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Rusty Solomon
Chief Executive Officer
Mandrien Consulting Group

Rusty Solomon serves as chief executive officer of Mandrien Consulting Group, a niche firm devoted to the mortgage and title industries. Rusty came to Mandrien after a five-year tenure at Linear Title and Closing as its national managing director. His primary responsibility was shaping the company's vision as it related to title operations, business process development, national licensing strategies, technology, national sales and marketing, affiliated business arrangement partners, compliance, risk management and quality assurance. While at Linear, Rusty was a director at NexGen Compliance Solutions, a technology provider to the mortgage and title industries. Prior to joining Linear Title, he served as president of AdvantEdge Real Estate Systems and was an analyst at the Lightstone Group in New York City.

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George Stablein
Vice President, Regional Counsel
North American Title Insurance Company

George Stablein, regional counsel for North American Title Company and North American Title Insurance Company, has been in the title industry for 13 years. His practice has been exclusive to real estate for his entire 17 years as an attorney. Prior to joining North American in 2003, George enjoyed his four years with First American Title, serving as underwriting counsel for the South Central Region, which included Texas and Arkansas.

George has served on numerous committees with the Texas Land Title Association, recently serving as chair person on the Member Services Committee. George has been a speaker for the Texas Land Title Association, the Arkansas Land Title Association and other real estate organizations. George is also a licensed instructor for the Texas Real Estate Commission. George has testified before the Texas Department of Insurance and the Texas Legislature. He is based in The Woodlands, Texas.

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Curt Szymanski
President
Windward Consulting | Software, LLC

Curt Szymanski is a successful entrepreneur and owner of many businesses in Wisconsin. He is president of Windward Consulting | Software, LLC, of Waunakee, Wisconsin, a consulting and software firm LEADING THE EFFICIENCY REVOLUTION™ — specializing in workflow consulting and software; process re-engineering; project management; implementation; and product and process strategy and design for clients in the real estate, vendor management, title and escrow, title plant, banking, land records and GIS industries. Curt has utilized his extensive experience to significantly improve speed, throughput, accuracy and customer satisfaction. Windward markets ResWare™, a workflow/Action List, vendor management, title production, and document management software product that combines an unprecedented combination of features in one integrated solution (XML, transaction management, self-administration, etc).

Curt is the former chief executive officer, president and founder of UCLID Software, LLC (now Extract Systems, LLC). He has authored and holds numerous patents and patents pending. He has served on the National Cadastral Special Interest Group Committee and has attended international conferences and events to assist developing nations in developing land records management systems and processes. He is an active real estate investor in the Bahamas and Caribbean and has seen first-hand the state of land records systems in this region, and is passionate about land records modernization in these areas. He is an active member of the American Land Title Association’s (ALTA) Technology Committee, ALTA’s Title Abstract Standard Initiative Sub-Committee, and the MISMO Title Workgroup.

Curt holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Minnesota and a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. He also has an MBA from the University of Wisconsin – Madison.

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Brian Twibell
Chief Executive Officer
Red Vision

Brian is one of the original investors and co-founders of Red Vision. Brian was instrumental in creating the business plan that is the foundation for Red Vision's success. He assumed the role of chairman and managing director in 2002, focusing most of his attention on strategic planning and business development. Brian assumed the position of chief executive officer in 2006 to lead Red Vision's rapid growth as an independent provider of technology-enabled solutions for the real property marketplace nationwide.

Prior to Red Vision, Brian was president and chief executive officer of Microbank Software, a firm he founded in 1984. Microbank grew to 200 employees with major divisions in New York, London and Singapore, and satellite sales offices in Amsterdam, Sydney, Tokyo and Zurich. By 1999, Microbank had over 1,100 systems installed in more than 30 countries. Its customers included 60 of the world's top 100 financial services organizations. SunGard acquired Microbank in 2000. After the acquisition, Brian served as SunGard's managing director for Strategic Acquisitions.

Prior to Microbank, Brian spent two years running sales and marketing for a software company focused on banking applications. He started his career in banking operations with Manufacturers Hanover Trust (now JP Morgan Chase).

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Teresa Williams
Chief Executive Officer
Mid-Atlantic Title Consultants, LLC

Teresa R. Williams is currently chief executive officer of Mid-Atlantic Title Consultants (MATC), the parent company of National Title Consultants (NTC). Both MATC and NTC are consulting firms that work with and advise title agents, underwriters, governmental agencies, law enforcement and professional associations nationwide.

During Teresa’s 25 plus year career, and prior to the formation of MATC, she has been involved in all aspects of the title industry, from abstracting to agency ownership. Under Teresa’s direction, both MATC and NTC have assisted insurance underwriters in the detection, prevention and recovery in defalcation cases.

Teresa has designed and presented numerous educational programs and seminars relating to the title industry for clients as well as various outside groups and organizations. All programs are designed to provide information to the attendees regardless of the knowledge level.

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Leslie Wyatt
Director of Industry Relations
LPS SoftPro

Leslie Wyatt is director of Industry Relations at LPS SoftPro, the nation's largest real estate closing and title software provider. Leslie has worked in the real estate industry for more than 14 years. She spent six years assisting with and overseeing closings. Dealing with the real estate transaction from start to finish, beginning with the sale of the property and seeing it through the actual closing, has given her the invaluable industry experience she needed to begin her career at SoftPro. She has been with SoftPro for the past eight years, and has held various positions in training, consulting, research and development, compliance and business integrations.

Leslie spent the last three years in research and development to help ensure that SoftPro was compliant with the new RESPA regulations. She is currently working on the NAIC Statistical Reporting changes, Dodd-Frank (CFPB) and other various compliance changes throughout the industry. She is a member of the American Land Title Association's Implementation Task Force and has also been heavily involved with the MISMO organization for the past year, working to help get all of the new HUD-1 and GFE updates/changes mapped within the latest version of MISMO (3.1). Leslie works as a business analyst on SoftPro's Business Integrations team, overseeing third-party vendor integrations with SoftPro's new 360 platform.

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If you would like to nominate a speaker for the conference please e-mail Seminars Director, Kelly McCarel, at kmccarel@octoberresearch.com.