Notarize named Eddie Oddo as vice president, strategic settlement service and strategy. Oddo leads the business development team responsible for accelerating the adoption of the company’s remote online notarization (RON) platform. He is also a member of Notarize’s senior leadership team and a contributor to the company’s product development and go-to-market strategy.
Oddo spent the last 26 years at First American Title, most recently as vice president of enterprise business solutions.
“Part of my role at First American focused on thinking strategically about the impact of eClosing and digital mortgage in the title space, and how to prepare for it,” he told The Title Report. “I’ve spent the better part of the past six or so years building relationships with eClose vendors, testing different eClose tools and models within the settlement service divisions, and speculating just how the real estate closing may ‘go digital’ in the near and longer terms.
“I’ve also become quite involved in the industry trade associations over the years partnering with lenders, title agents, GSE’s and tech vendors to develop industry educational materials, speak on panels, lead workgroups to develop eClose and RON standards and generally evangelize that digital closings/mortgage will soon impact every real estate transaction for every lender and title agent. In short, this is happening and it is our choice if it happens for us or to us.”
His experiences have crystalized two truths, he said. First, digitizing all the documents through the closing process will drastically improve convenience, transparency and efficiency, as well reduce risks, errors and costs.
“Second, [RON] will be the transformative shift that amplifies all the benefits of eSigning in real estate closings,” Oddo said. “Executed well, RON simply reduces fraud, reduces costs, increases convenience, and increases certainty. It removes geography from the closing equation allowing consumers to sign docs from where they want to be, allowing title agents to expand their market reach (and reduce their office leasing footprint), allowing lenders full visibility and access to mortgage documents throughout the signing in real time.”
It was not easy for him to decide to leave First American, he said.
“It’s an amazing company with amazing people and a culture that is frankly hard to find these days. But, after 26 years and an incredible career there, I decided that joining Notarize and putting my shoulder behind [Notarize founder, Pat Kinsel’s] vision would be an exciting next chapter in my career,” Oddo said.