| Turning relationships into business success
Ronald E. Frederick, president of Core Service Partners in Fort Mill, S.C., never chose the title industry. It chose him – literally.
 During the mid-1990s, while working his way toward computer information systems and business administration degrees at Queens University in Charlotte, N.C., Ronald toiled as a bartender at Chili’s, the national restaurant chain. There, he caught the attention of a title industry veteran.
“There was a guy who kept coming into my bar and reading a book. He’d have three or four beers and just keep reading, which I found to be very impressive, because I couldn’t read after several beers,” Ronald, 46, recalled, jokingly.
That regular was Michael Wekall, the former CEO and president of Colonial Title Co.
“To be honest, I thought he was selling Amway. I didn’t know what he did,” Ronald said.
What Wekall was doing was laying the foundation to launch Colonial. And the industry veteran believed some of the skills Ronald displayed in his bartending gig – networking, putting people at ease, listening – would work well for his company.
“[Wekall said] ‘I really think you would be great at the customer service piece.’ [I’m thinking] I’m a bartender. I get paid to run my mouth,” Ronald said. “I have to talk to people that’s part of my job.”
Although Ronald's mind was set on going to law school after earning his undergraduate degrees, Wekall persuaded him to take an internship at his new company.
The internship turned into nearly a decade at the company in various positions. And the industry knowledge and skills Ronald began honing at Colonial – among them strategic planning, implementation, business development, and title insurance operations – have propelled him throughout his career.
“I jumped in with him to kind of get some exposure and we started a company from scratch,” Ronald said.
Within five years of its start, Colonial grew from one employee, one owner and one office to 21 employees and three offices. Because of its small size, Ronald wore several hats as Wekall taught him industry and small-business skills.
“I’m learning an entire industry from a guy who has substantial experience,” Ronald recalled.
Ronald realized that Wekall’s assessment had been correct. Some of those skills that had made him a good bartender, combined with those learned through higher education, fit well with the title industry.
“In the South, people do business with people they want to do business with. [It’s all about] relationship building,” Ronald said. “In title insurance it’s all the same product. We’re all selling the same widget. The only thing we have to sell is service and ourselves.”
Ronald helped Colonial become the largest independently owned title company in Charlotte. He handled First American directed commercial transactions, including being part of the team that processed the refinance of Fort Bragg for $220 million.
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“I want to win. I want to win in almost everything I do.”
Ronald Frederick
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“In 9½ years, we grew Colonial Title Company to 1,600 transactions a month and [it became] the largest independently owned title insurance business in Charlotte,” Ronald said.
In 2004, Ronald joined the Accurate Group in Charlotte as vice president. During a two-year stint there, Ronald helped expand Accurate from a North Carolina-only real estate closing business to a national settlement company. He started offices in Pennsylvania, Florida and South Carolina, and helped Accurate establish infrastructure to handle national residential and commercial closings. Following his time at Accurate, Ronald worked three years at North American Title Insurance Co., where he became the company’s highest producer of revenue and had its largest agent base.
In 2006 Ronald took the ultimate plunge – taking the experience he’d gain at Colonial and Accurate and starting his own company, Meridian Title Company in Charlotte.
“If I’m going to work this hard, I’d rather do it for myself,” he said.
His previous experience helped Meridian thrive. Stewart Title named Ronald its most improved agent for North Carolina in 2006; and a top-five remitting agent for the state in 2007 and 2008. He worked closely with Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) attorneys to increase closings percentages and reduce re-foreclosure issues.
These days, as president of Core Service Partners, Ronald partners with real estate companies to provide mortgages, insurance and title services. Core Service also helps owners start title insurance companies throughout the country.
The company owns title companies in Texas, Nevada, Arizona, North Carolina and South Carolina. “It’s not like one title company in multiple states. It’s multiple title companies in multiple states,” he noted.
“We exist to create joint venture title relationships in different markets across the United States, and really bring title companies up from the ground floor,” Ronald said.
Ronald said being involved with startups – whether your own or someone else’s – can be rewarding, but also time-consuming. He can remember plenty of times he practically slept in his office. Married with two young children, Ronald said he tries to make sure he’s carved out sufficient time for his family.
 He and his wife, Andrea, enjoy visiting beaches. And he’s been teaching his children (Alex, 8 and Alli, 6) fishing. “My dad was always taking me fishing,” Ronald recalled, fondly.
He’s tried to get his entire family involved.
“Deep sea fishing is probably my favorite because you have no idea what the heck you’re going to catch when you throw your line down there,” Ronald said. “If it’s on a lake, it’s more of kind of relaxing and unwinding.”
Ronald sees parallels between deep sea fishing and business. He has taken clients on deep sea fishing expeditions.
“If you get on a boat and go out deep sea fishing, there’s the desire to really want to make that big catch,” he said.
Making that big catch isn’t easy, as it involves battling the water, locating the fish, hooking and landing them. “There’s lot more work in deep-sea fishing, but a lot more reward,” Ronald said. “I want to win. I want to win in almost everything I do.”
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