Pioneer Title Agency Expands in Flagstaff; Family Owned Business Purchases Metro Title Agency

(FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – March 31, 2017) – Pioneer Title Agency, a family owned business founded by Northern Arizona University alum and 2010 W.A. Franke College of Business National Advisory Board Alumni & Faculty Hall of Fame inductee Keith Newlon that has been operating in Coconino County for nearly 25 years, is pleased to announce its formal expansion with the purchase of Metro Title Agency of Arizona. Through the purchase, Metro Title Agency’s Flagstaff branch located at 1750 S. Woodlands Village Blvd. is now formally operating as Pioneer Title Agency’s fourth location in the city, and its eighth across the county. Senior escrow officer Janel Miller will continue to serve as manager of the branch, and each of the team’s staff – escrow assistant Katie Dykema, junior title examiner Troy Joralmon and escrow assistant Tessa Lembke – will also remain.

“Janel is more than just a highly respected industry veteran – she actually got her start with Pioneer Title Agency in Flagstaff in 2003,” said Newlon. “Over the past 14 years, she’s been a leader within both the real estate community through her work with the Northern Arizona Association of REALTORs and several respected title agencies in the area, as well as in the local community, including supporting her husband as he serves as the Flagstaff Deputy Chief of Police.”

When not working, avid horsewoman Miller participates in cowboy mounted shooting competitions, which is a competitive equestrian sport involving the riding of a horse to negotiate a shooting pattern. She is also a mother to three adult daughters.

Through the purchase, Pioneer Title also acquired Metro Title’s four branches in Pima County as well as its team members in Yavapai County, Priscila Montenegro and Pam Illy. Montenegro, an assistant escrow officer, has joined Pioneer Title Agency’s Marketplace Branch located at 2445 West State Route 89A, while Illy, also an assistant escrow officer, has joined Yavapai Title Agency’s Sedona Branch located at 2855 State Route 89A. The Newlon family purchased Yavapai Title Agency in 2000.

Pioneer Title Agency is proud to be the number-one title agency in the area, handling all types of real estate transactions, ranging from the small, secondary loans to the transfer of large, sophisticated commercial properties.

“After graduating NAU in 1979, my first real job was for the Kuban family at Minnesota Title,” said Newlon. “We were like a family – and Bob Kuban was a mentor to me.”

So much so, in fact, that after Newlon moved south to start his own business with his parents Bob and Betty Joe and wife Cindy, he stayed in touch with his Minnesota Title friends – eventually learning in the early 1990s that the elder Kubans wanted to retire.

“I respected the kind of company Bob and Neldeanne created at Minnesota Title and was proud to be able to purchase it from them in 1993 to create Pioneer Title Agency in Flagstaff.  Our goal then and our goal now, is to never have to answer to outside stockholders or investors,” said Newlon.

And to true to his word, Pioneer Title Agency in Coconino County has remained a wholly family-owned business since day one, outlasting all of the big-box chains in the area through the recession. But for as proud as the team is of its business success and growth, they seem even more enthusiastic about their positive footprint on the surrounding community.

“Pioneer Title Agency has operated under the philosophy of ‘Commitment to Service’ since its inception, which to us also means a commitment to service within each of our local communities,” said Newlon.

Under its “Pioneer Title Agency in Action” community relations umbrella, from sponsoring local sports teams to organizing fundraising walks to simply donating to causes important to the community, Pioneer’s management empowers and supports each of its team members across Arizona to be active members of the communities where they work and live.

As a result, the Flagstaff team members are actively involved with hundreds of local organizations including Big Brothers Big Sisters, Soroptimist International of Flagstaff, Northland Family Help Center, Hope Cottage, the Flagstaff Ski Team, Flagstaff Family Food Center, Flagstaff Community Foundation, the local Boy Scouts, Flagstaff Family YMCA, Literacy International, Hope’s Close, BOTHHANDS and more. The Newlon family also has a scholarship in Betty Joe Newlon’s name to help graduate students living and working in to Arizona earn advanced degrees in counseling.

For more information, visit www.ptaaz.com.