On July 27, ALTA announced Korsmo's promotion to CEO.
Korsmo has been serving as Chief Operating Officer for ALTA. She joined ALTA
in 2008 when she was named senior vice president, marketing and member programs.
Since coming to ALTA, Korsmo has helped guide the association to record
membership and revenues, while increasing contributions to the Title Insurance
Political Action Committee.
As for her experience prior to joining ALTA, it had this to say:
Prior to joining ALTA, Korsmo was the executive vice president of the Americans
for Prosperity (AFP) Foundation, where she managed a team of 52 people and a $10
million budget, and grew the organization from one state chapter to 21 in four
years. She helped build the foundation's grassroots capability to promote
solution-oriented policy to local, state and federal government. Before that,
Korsmo served three years as deputy chief of staff to U.S. Secretary of Labor
Elaine L. Chao, where she managed non-political agency heads, served as a member
of the budget committee, exercised approval authority on all Departmental action
to be published in the Federal Register, and developed an outreach program to
the non-profit community.
The OAITA responded by questioning her background as a qualification to head ALTA:
Who is Michelle Korsmo? Well, she isn’t a title industry veteran. In fact, she has no background in title or real estate — unless you count the last three years as COO of ALTA. Prior to joining ALTA, Korsmo was the executive vice president of the Americans for Prosperity (AFP) Foundation, where she managed a team of 52 people and a $10 million budget, and grew the organization from one state chapter to 21 in four years. At AFP, she dabbled in a range of politically charged subject matter.
I guess whether ALTA's choice was a good one depends on your perspective. Should the CEO of the nation's leading title insurance association have a title insurance background, or is it enough (or better) that the CEO have experience leading a large organization? Basically, is the CEO there to advance industry concerns, or merely serve as an administrative head of the organization?
As the OAITA puts it, after raising concerns about her ties to AFP and its politically charged agenda:
The concern is that ALTA, now being run by a former AFP ideologue in Korsmo, will now commence with the business of ideology instead of being in the business of broad policy for the improvement of the title insurance industry.
So, read ALTA's press release and the OAITA blog and let us know what you think? What do you think is in store for the future of ALTA and the title industry?