In 2022, the American Land Title Association (ALTA) formed a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Advisory Council, bringing together leaders of various committees and association groups who are working on initiatives related to diversity, equity, inclusion, and access in the land title industry. The DEI Advisory Council will advise the Board of Governors in its strategic decisions on these issues.
Formation of the DEI Advisory Council signals ALTA’s commitment to accomplish its mission, which includes advocating on behalf of its members and industry interests. Accordingly, ALTA must provide education and information relevant to the industry and promote professional standards that reflect a changing marketplace, clients served, and employees the industry have, must attract, and retain.
We are in a labor market where the competition for talent is fierce and clients are holding their vendors accountable, DEI is an important issue the land title industry must embrace as part of the industry’s culture and strategy. Numerous peer-reviewed studies have shown organizations that embrace diversity outperform their less diverse peers. In addition, customers are increasingly looking at organizational culture as a reason to choose with whom to conduct business. Successful land title organizations of the future must find the right balance of management style and respect for the individuality of others as they pursue the goal of increasing collaboration and productivity while serving their clients in an ever-evolving marketplace.
There is no universal DEI standard at this time and each organization must conduct its own analysis to determine its desired path as it navigates DEI issues. The DEI Advisory Council aims to identify the effective tools and resources that will work for the already geographically diverse ALTA membership while bringing the over-arching goals of the Association to the local level to foster industry-wide success. In the near future, ALTA members will be able to locate business tools and other resources to assist them in customizing a DEI plan on the ALTA website. The DEI Advisory Council invites and encourages individuals with ideas and opinions to reach out to the Advisory Council directly or to the ALTA staff to share their ideas and opinions.
Author(s): Members of the ALTA Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Advisory Council
