TitleBytes News & Happenings

New MLTA President, Eileen LaPlante

Questions Posed to the New MLTA President, Eileen LaPlante:

How did you find your way into this industry and the MLTA?

Like most people in the title industry, except for those whose families owned, or worked for title companies, I discovered the industry by accident. I don’t know many children who grow up saying, “I want to be a title examiner when I grow up” or “I want to be an escrow officer”. I started out temping for Transamerica Title gathering tax information for input on commitments and settlement statements. I found I had an aptitude for legal descriptions and worked my way through various positions from there; from being the “tax girl” who researched taxes, to commitment production, searcher/abstractor, and title examiner before moving on to learn the settlement and closing process as well as the management side of the business. I have been privileged to work with many talented people in my career, from small local title companies, a regional underwriter, and lender owned agencies. I have learned from that all and have formed lifelong friendships. Paralleling those experiences was my involvement with MLTA. My first MLTA experience was many years ago attending an education seminar at the old Holiday Inn in Mount Pleasant. After registering and gathering my seminar materials, I was looking for where to go next, when Mary Feindt – (of the Mary C Feindt Award) walked up and introduced herself. She ask about me, my role at my company and made me feel welcome. I have met and am privileged to know many amazing, smart, and talented people through MLTA who are committed to our industry.

What are the main goals you’d like to accomplish as President this coming year?

During my presidency I want to continue pushing forward initiatives started by previous presidents.

On the advocacy side, this includes moving forward legislation to address the flaws in the affixture process for manufactured housing.

Another objective of mine is to advance the Michigan Real Estate Forum. This group of industry stake holders, including title insurers, lenders and governmental units that support the Michigan real estate market came to together at the onset of the pandemic thanks to the efforts of Tom, Darlene and the board when we were all just figuring out how to get things done during shutdown. Our first virtual meeting early this year in January of 2021 was well received and we are looking forward to the first live event since the onset of the pandemic later this year.

I would like to continue increasing participation with MLTA; our association, like all of us has evolved over the past year and a half finding different ways to do things and reach members. While human networking is a very strong part of our organization, we have also found that we are able to reach additional people through virtual presentations. This allows us to offer more educational opportunities, that can include more of our membership staff.

What can MLTA members do to assist with these initiatives?

I encourage everyone to find a committee that interests them and participate. Add your skills, talent and knowledge and get the same back from your peers.

Because it’s not about me or the board or the committee chairs, it’s about all of us working together. It’s about our industry, striving to do the right thing for our consumers – everyday.