Proper Title Launches Commercial Division
February 20, 2024
Illinois-based Proper Title LLC has launched a national commercial services division.
To support the move, the company promoted Charity Murow from senior underwriting counsel to director of underwriting and compliance. In addition, Proper Title added Cullen Marshall as national commercial underwriting counsel and Dolores Saavedra as senior national construction escrow manager.
“As the number of our commercial real estate closings has risen in recent years, and the awareness that Proper Title can also assist our local clients on a national level, we knew the best way to meet market demand was to expand our services with a dedicated national team,” said Kathy Kwak, chief operating officer of Proper Title. “Charity Murrow has done a fantastic job handling our local and national commercial transactions to date, but as word spread across our clients how well we handle their national deals with the same attention to client service as their local deals, that’s when our national commercial business really took off.”
Murow will lead the underwriting team of the commercial division.
Marshall most recently served as vice president and regional underwriting counsel for Title Resources Guaranty Co. in St. Louis, where he was the lead underwriting contact for title agents across a multi-state division. Prior to that, he served as vice president and division underwriting counsel for Old Republic National Title Insurance Co. in St. Louis. A licensed attorney in Illinois and Missouri, Marshall began his career a decade ago as a junior associate attorney for Kodner, Watkins & Kloecker, LC, where he assisted senior attorneys with corporate entity formations, real estate closings, settlement negations and foreclosure proceedings.
A 23-year veteran of construction escrow, Saavedra also joined Proper Title in January as senior national construction escrow manager. Most recently, she was vice president and construction escrow manager at Near North Title Group in Chicago. Prior to that, she spent 18 years at First American Title Insurance Co. in Chicago as a senior construction escrow officer.
In addition to providing title insurance and underwriting for commercial real estate transactions nationally, Proper Title has an in-house construction escrow team that manages the distribution of funds on construction projects.
“Construction escrow capabilities is a niche specialty of ours, and clients appreciate this one-stop shop approach,” Kwak said. “We provide clients with peace of mind that the construction escrow side is handled professionally and timely—keeping their project on track. With rapid growth in both our commercial closings and construction escrow services, we quickly realized we needed more support to better serve our rising client base.”
Contact ALTA at 202-296-3671 or communications@alta.org.