| Former real estate attorney becomes industry leader, innovator in South Texas
Byron Jay Lewis, CEO of Edwards Abstract and Title Co., said his greatest accomplishment was having the courage to take a step away from his legal career to become a title agent and entrepreneur.
 “My life is charmed in so many ways,” he said. “I love the serendipity of how opportunities have come together for me. I love doing this. I love the quality of the people in this industry. I have 85 employees, with an average of more than 10 years of experience. I have people with 30 years of experience. I have a lot of knowledge within my team.”
Byron grew up with the aspiration of becoming a lawyer, moving to Washington, D.C., and working with Clark Clifford — advisor to presidents. He graduated from the University of Texas at Austin and said he worked with many great mentors in his career, learning that he likes contracts and real estate rather than taking depositions and litigation.
In 1986, he worked as an associate attorney for Kelley, Looney, Alexander and Monroe in Edinburg, Texas, handling real estate, foreclosure, probate, wills and trusts. Then in 1988, he broadened his experience and went to work for a lender, First National Bank in Edinburg, serving as advisory director and an executive officer of the bank. He was responsible for the bank’s compliance initiatives, as well.
Soon he opened his own law firm, Henrichson & Lewis, with a friend, where they contracted out as city attorneys. Then in 1999, he had lunch with another friend. Over iced tea, he was offered a job at Edwards Abstract. He began April 1, 1999, and less than three years later owned the company. Byron bought Edwards Abstract in October 2001, a month before his friend, the former owner, died.
The company had been in the Edwards family since 1880, before there was title insurance. It began as an abstracting company. Professionals found records in government offices and churches and built the first title plant in South Texas.
The company now has seven offices across the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, and Edwards Abstract has made two acquisitions in the region. It holds a third of the market in premium dollars.
 Instead of staying with a traditional model of consumers coming to the title office at its headquarters, Edwards Abstract was the first in the region to offer local branches for consumers’ convenience. The company underwrites for all the national names, including Fidelity, First American, Old Republic, Stewart, National Investors and Title Resources.
“Our model is locally owned, locally operated,” Byron said. “It fits the depth of our relationships down here. We’re part of the community. We’re a champion of the local community, and we like it like that.”
Although it was smaller when Byron came on board, the company was always at the forefront of technology. It was a leader in digitizing property records, even before the county clerk was doing it, and implemented proprietary software for escrow and at its title plant.
“We were one of the first independent agents to use and set up a transaction management program (in the area),” Byron said. “Automated transaction management is a wonderful thing. We want to lead with the best technology for our customers. We physically had to go out and train people, and keep after them to start using it. In our market everybody wanted things faxed. They didn’t want a password or to log in. We created teams of people to go into their offices and set them up and teach them how to do it. We had to sell it file-by-file. Now we’ve made another big software decision and the first question I get asked is, ‘We’re still going to be able to log in and have access to the transaction management system, right?’”
Byron also wants to be the leader in eClosings in his area. There aren’t many doing eClosings in South Texas yet, but he is anxiously waiting for his region to adopt it. He said he hopes the CFPB initiatives will drive more opportunities for eClosings. He meets with his senior officers twice a month, and they know his goal is to lead that process.
Leading is part of Byron’s makeup, as he was one of three people to become a Certified Title Insurance Associate (CTIA) in Texas last April. He sits on the board of the Texas Land Title Association, which issues the certification, and the group wanted to create standards for professional certification. So TLTA developed criteria for selection and examination for title examiners and title closers (escrow officers). Byron’s certification covers each aspect of the Texas title insurance business.
“It was really difficult,” he said. “The test has 150 questions you had to answer in three hours. It reminded me of my board exams, but I’m glad I did it. I enjoyed it more than I thought. I appreciate now what it takes to get that certification. It was a meaningful thing to do.”
Byron was also the top graduate of the Texas Compliance School, which was modeled after the prestigious University of Oklahoma banking curriculum.
However, outside the industry, Byron is a husband, a father of two, a philanthropist, a volunteer and a rancher.
 “The best way to reward your community is to be involved in it,” Byron said, and he certainly is.
He helped raise funds for a state-of-the-art facility for the Edinburg Boys and Girls Club and to build the RGV PAWS No Kill Animal Adoption Center. He’s participated in and led the Chamber of Commerce, served on several commissions and was appointed the Grand Marshal of the 38th annual Fiesta Edinburg Parade. He loves to spend time with his 12 pure-bred longhorns, three quarter horses and donkey on his ranch, Las Casuelas in San Manuel.
His wife, Keely Anthony Lewis, is a retired Master Journalism Educator. His daughter, Elizabeth, graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Texas Pan American, and his son, Mark, is studying business at the University of Texas San Antonio and hopes to join his father in the title insurance industry.
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