Two of the city’s highest-profile women bankers have teamed up to provide an Answer. Donna Fitzgerald Shuler, former president and CEO of D.C.-based Independence Federal Savings Bank, and S. Kathryn Allen, former D.C. banking commissioner, founded Answer Title (www.answertitle.com).
“It’s a natural evolution to lending,” says Shuler, who acts as co-president with Allen. “People want the same thing — accurate, smooth settlements.”
Though both are known for their banking ties, each also has real estate experience. Shuler is a licensed Realtor; Allen is a real estate attorney.
With D.C.’s strong real estate market — both residential and commercial — the two say there’s plenty of room for their new company.
Answer Title has five employees in its 10 G St. NE office, and Allen says they’ve built in room to grow when real estate sales pick up after the first of the year.
Both women have had a relatively tough couple of years. They struck up a friendship in 2001 while in Leadership Washington, a network of executives in the region. Shuler and Allen stayed in close touch, and in the fall of 2003 both found themselves without a job.
In June 2003, Shuler resigned as president and CEO of Independence Federal Savings Bank — a bank founded by her father in 1968 — during the middle of an ugly proxy battle.
Allen left the D.C. Department of Banking and Financial Institutions the same year to head the effort to open Legacy Banc, which was chartered in D.C. but never opened. After lining up real estate and funding, Allen scrapped the idea when District banking regulators voiced concerns about a conflict that resulted from Allen’s tenure as banking commissioner.
“We got right to the point where we located space and were ready to flip the switch,” Allen says. “It’s incredibly unfortunate, but everything in life happens for a reason.”
It was Allen’s experience that led to the idea for Answer Title. She and Shuler sought advice from other title and real estate underwriting companies around town and set up an affiliation with a suburban title company.
Answer Title was formed in July, but only recently opened an office on Capitol Hill. The co-president arrangement has made the foray into a new arena more comfortable for Allen and Shuler.
Says Allen: “Both of us are used to carrying so much weight on our shoulders.”
© 2005 American City Business Journals Inc.
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