| Using best practices and collaboration to create something special
B ack in the early 2000s, Brian Cooper was principal and CEO of Kensington National Land Services, a New York-based national title insurance, settlement and 1031 exchange company.
 Through a business contact, he met Jarett Fein, who at the time was the founder and president of Vanguard Title Agency, Inc., which specialized in New York commercial and high-end residential transactions.
“We were two of the younger New York-based firms,” recalled Brian, 42. “We originally connected a bit randomly through a mutual client, and started a dialogue about the industry, our respective businesses and goals. We quickly realized that, philosophically, there was a lot of alignment [between our companies].
“We concluded that combining our respective firms’ assets, teams and diverse client bases would create something that was pretty special,” Brian added.
The result of those conversations was Kensington Vanguard National Land Services, which Brian and Jarett co-founded and are co-CEOs. But shortly after Kensington Vanguard was founded in 2008, the real estate markets experienced an historic downturn as a result of the subprime mortgage meltdown.
“Right out of the gates, after we combined the firms, the financial crisis hit. We learned firsthand that strength in numbers was helpful during those times,” Brian remembered.
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“Right out of the gates, after we combined the firms, the financial crisis hit. We learned firsthand that strength in numbers was helpful during those times.”
Brian Cooper
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Like other agencies hoping to survive the downturn, Kensington Vanguard was forced to adjust to a market in which commercial and residential purchases were grinding to a halt. “We certainly were tested out of the gates … How could the joint business stand the downturn? We were able to reallocate resources across the business and were quite profitable in those years. We came out very well positioned for future expansion,” Brian said.
Today, Kensington Vanguard operates nationally and has approximately 200 employees, with offices in New York, New Jersey, Florida, Texas and the D.C. metro area.
“It does feel like people are either born into this business or kind of fall into it in some indirect way,” Brian said. “I would definitely fall into the latter.”
Indeed, Brian began his career with investment bank Morgan Stanley in New York City after graduating in 1998 from the University of Michigan School of Business Administration. As a member of the company’s Retail Industry Corporate Finance group, he was on a team that advised companies on mergers, acquisitions and financings.
By 2000, Cooper had joined Morgan Stanley’s London office as part of its European Consumer Products Corporate Finance group.
Unfortunately, 2000 also ushered in the dot.com bust, which led to a massive slowdown in the investment banking industry. Brian decided to follow his entrepreneurial spirit and leave Morgan Stanley.
“My family was starting a residential mortgage company and asked me to join. While I was anxious about getting off the corporate finance career path, it was exciting to be a part of something entrepreneurial,” Brian said. “Instinctively, it was clear that building and operating a business was where I wanted to be professionally. It just felt kind of natural.
“Through the mortgage business, I was exposed to the title insurance industry. I saw some interesting opportunities in the space. … Within months, I chose to pivot and focus on building a title insurance agency.”
At Kensington, he was able to establish a strong presence in the commercial market. Kensington was involved in the acquisitions of the Helmsley Building and 1440 Broadway in New York, as well as the refinancing of 4 Times Square.
Brian attributes his success at Kensington, and later at Kensington Vanguard with Jarett, to a strategy of developing a highly talented team, a scalable infrastructure and a culture of collaboration.
“We [KV] have institutional characteristics, including a best-in-class commercial underwriting team led by Kristin Bellouny, a true national platform, strong finance department, corporate governance, technology, compliance, HR and a top-tier private equity partner in Stone Point Capital. We also have instilled a culture where we internally work together across the firm nationwide to create value for our clients,” Brian said. “These are things that make KV a great place to work and grow as a professional in this industry. These assets also are valuable in acquisition discussions with other title agencies.”
“We add a lot of value to organizations by bringing these assets to bear, by bringing our credibility in the commercial marketplace, stability, infrastructure and capital,” he continued. “Our partners can devote more effort to servicing clients and growing their businesses at higher margins.”
And much was learned during the combining of Kensington and Vanguard during different market conditions.
“Obviously, there are a lot of challenges with combining businesses. There were different cultures, different processes, at a higher level, down to different softwares and vendors at the more micro level,” Brian said. “But together, as firms, we were able to take best practices and apply them to create a platform that we think is pretty unique, progressive and nimble. We regularly utilize the lessons learned during the KV merger in partnering with and integrating the numerous other high-quality firms we’ve invested in. One of those lessons is to always listen to and learn from these entrepreneurs as well. No pride of authorship here.”
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