Amy Arcano
“There’s Amy, and then there’s everyone else,” reads one of Amy Arcano’s nominations for this year’s Women of FIRE Awards. Another nomination likens her to the protagonist in the TV series “MacGyver,” the top agent who rights all wrongs of the world, mostly through ingenuity.
Arcano’s nominators credit her for Connecticut Attorneys Title Insurance Co.’s significant rise in commercial business. CATIC is an underwriting member of the American Land Title Association, the New England Land Title Association and the North American Bar-Related Title Insurers.
Michael Savenelli, vice president of CATIC and director of industry relations, said in his nomination that Arcano’s knowledge and experience is unparalleled. “Nobody ever knows if it’s a bad or good day” when interacting with her. She has a talent for customer service, in addition to her talents as a manager, he said, in dealing with attorney customers who are “very demanding,” due to deadline pressure, escrow accounts and the inevitable complexities of the title insurance profession. “Her expertise and ability to problem solve has made her the most sought-after title underwriter in the region,” he wrote in his nomination.
Anthony Lombardi, CATIC vice president and title counsel, another nominator, cited Arcano as one of few female executives in the industry running a title insurance office who has also been tasked with opening a branch. He cited her “huge following within the local commercial real estate universe.”
“I started at the bottom,” Arcano told The Commercial Record. In her junior year of high school, she worked summer breaks and vacations, filing, organizing bulk files, issuing insured closing letters, researching back title policies and answering the phones. In college, she worked at LandAmerica Financial Group Inc. until graduation – then moved there full time. Since joining CATIC she has worked all industry positions, from receptionist to her current title.
An example of high-profile files is 777 Main St., Hartford, Victory Gardens in Newington, which closed at Arcano’s former employer, Stewart Title, where Arcano served as assistant vice president, underwriter and branch manager. The 1967 building is on the National Register of Historic Places and is being adapted for mixed-use, mixed-income multifamily and retail uses, to serve veterans who are homeless or at risk of becoming so.
“Your organization is only as strong as your weakest link,” Arcano said, noting that the title industry “is more people-driven” than most others. Adaptably, flexibility, availability, accountability and responsibility are the key factors needed to be effective and profitable. “You must be able to think on your feet and expect the unexpected,” she said.
