The former president and chief operating officer of Fidelity National Financial, Patrick Stone, has returned to an active role in the title insurance business and is looking to turn WFG National Title Insurance Co., Lake Oswego, Ore., into a national player.
In the six months since Stone's firm, Williston Financial Group, acquired the pieces that now make up WFG, it has become licensed in 33 states, with another 16 pending.
Stone is a veteran of more than 35 years in the title business. After leaving FNF, he became a board member at rival firm First American Corp.
He said he has been watching the market since he left FNF, and because his company was starting fresh, it saw an opportunity to "refocus, streamline and put money right up where the client lives," as opposed to having to support an existing infrastructure while hoping the market comes back in order to feed it. (For more details see the weekly edition of NMN.)
