2025 Mid-Winter Conference at Huntsville Botanical Garden
Our association hosted its first Mid-Winter Conference at the beautiful Huntsville Botanical Garden, February 18th. About 55 abstractors, agents, agent staff, underwriters, and associates attended. Abstractors were our special guests who were honored as the backbone of our entire industry. Although we all know that there would be no title examinations, no title commitments, no closings, no loans and no title policies written without the good work of our Alabama Abstractors, abstractors are often behind the scenes doing their jobs without recognition. One of our association’s initiatives is to invite and include abstractors as members and to celebrate them for the work they do every day. We need their input, their support and their help to grow our association and to become an integral part of our pilot abstractor apprenticeship program.
Our sponsors were Lee Nash with CATIC, Stephen Blackwell with Alliant National, Sean Culhane with Security Title of Baltimore, Kristi Holzimmer, Cass Tinsley & Rebecca Manasco with Fidelity National Title Group and Melissa Van Noy with Norman-Spencer Insurance. We appreciate their support of our association!
Morgan County Probate Judge Greg Cain was our first speaker. He connected easily with our group inasmuch as his mother, Frances Cain, was an abstractor. He understands what goes into an abstract and how important the record room is to us all. He explained his challenges as probate judge and was very supportive of our effort to form a relationship with all the probate judges in Alabama. Our sponsorship of the Alabama Probate Judge Association is welcomed and will support our efforts to work more closely with the judges as well as their chief clerks. Judge Cain’s presentation is on our website under Education.
Our second speaker was Kyle Kerrigan with CertifID. We can’t hear enough about cyberfraud and the efforts that the bad actors continue to make to disrupt and harm our industry. He explained that protection from the fraudsters requires a layered approach including education of your office as well as your customers; standard operating procedures within your office; software tools to lower risk, enable decision making and improve efficiency; planning and testing to mitigate risk if an incident occurs; and insurance. Kyle’s presentation is on our website under Education also.
Our last presentation was a panel discussion moderated by Lauren Marlbrough with David P. Condon, PC., Birmingham. The panel discussed how to work together for a smooth closing. The panelists were: Abstractor- Theresa Bayer, TMB Title, Inc., Huntsville; Surveyor: Lee Greene, Jr., Lee Y. Greene and Associates, Inc., Hartselle; and Title Agent/Attorney: Matt Harrison, Harrison & Gammons, P.C., Huntsville. Our attendees were able to relate to each of the every-day struggles these professionals handle daily. We all came away with a better understanding of the challenges of doing a good job and working together when difficult closings arise.
We enjoyed a wonderful catered barbecue lunch, but the fellowship with our title professionals was the most beneficial part of the entire day. Please save the date for our next conference: August 24-25 at the Grand Bohemian Mountain Brook. See you then!
