| Executive chef dived into title insurance with no regrets
Mike Telford, senior vice president at eTitle, can catch a fish, cook it to order or even sell it. This executive chef turned title insurance leader has a variety of experiences and accomplishments, and this is why he was chosen as The Title Report’s Trendsetter. A former restaurateur and entrepreneur, Mike took a leap of faith into the mortgage lending and title insurance industry with no regrets 16 years later.
 As an entrepreneur, he acquired and redesigned more than 900 restaurants for a Fortune 500 retail company, and increased revenue from $285 million to $350 million over a two-year period.
“After 18 years in the restaurant industry that was experiencing a lot of consolidation, leverage buyouts and hostile takeovers, I chose to change careers into the private company sector,” Mike said. “My decision was financial services, because at the time it was still the American dream to own a home, and in my research it appeared to be a good career choice.”
Mike always has been the pacesetter who led his businesses to grow successfully in a fairly short amount of time. That success gave him opportunities to take on leadership roles in an industry entirely unrelated to his former career.
“I accepted a position as a mortgage banker at Rock Financial/Quicken Loans to learn the business, with the aspirations of leading business development efforts,” he said. “After several months I was transferred to the corporate office and took the position of director for the business development team. I went on to lead loan origination, wholesale lending, peer group lending, title and settlements and appraisal. This rounded my leadership knowledge in all disciplines supporting and facilitating the mortgage lending industry.”
In 2012 he transitioned his experience into becoming an executive vice president of Priority Appraisal USA, where he expanded the business into 46 states over a two-year period. From there he went on to work for the Orlans Group as senior vice president of eTitle, eAMC and Towne Auction divisions, a position where he has been now for more than two years.
“When I accepted my current position, eTitle was a premier provider of title and settlement services for the foreclosure and REO sectors. There was a need to create additional revenue streams, which led to establishing residential and commercial title teams for retail lending and new construction,” Mike said. “We restructured the organizational infrastructure to not only provide outstanding default title and settlement services, but to support and deliver, at a high level, the mortgage origination lending as well. Now we have a robust team that serves residential and a commercial lending in the new TRID environment. We’ve enjoyed nice growth over the last two years. We’re expanding into additional states and pursuing the bank and credit union business from the origination side.”
So how did he get to be senior vice president of three divisions of the Orlans Group? Mike said he took his father’s advice, “Work hard and learn everything you can about every aspect of what you do.”
“My primary focus is on the growth of the title company,” he said. “My job was to create new revenue streams. One of (my) biggest accomplishments was taking an organization that was so entrenched in one discipline and highly specialized in it and be able to communicate that more needs to be accomplished in a different methodology.
“I love a good challenge, whether it’s taking something that’s going well and making it better or taking a business in decline and fixing it, turning it around and making it successful.”
 With all that he has going professionally, he also has time to volunteer. Mike has coordinated food drives for Gleaners and Forgotten Harvest, two food banks helping those in need. On Thanksgiving he serves food and helps out at his church.
He’s also an avid fly-fisherman, and a serious foodie who still loves to cook.
Mike faced many challenges in his diverse career path and accomplished many of his goals, but he said he still is looking forward to accomplishing more professionally, as well as personally.
“When I retire, I’m going to travel the world,” Mike said. “I want to go all over Europe. I’m going to do as much traveling as I possibly can and eat every place I go.”
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