Announcing the 2024 Stewart Chairman’s Award Winners

Honoring Excellence That Moves Us Forward: 2024 Stewart Chairman's Award

At Stewart, being a Top Workplace means more than earning a title. It reflects our commitment to creating a better experience for our people, our customers and our communities. Our team members are the driving force behind our success, and each year, we honor those who go above and beyond with our highest internal recognition: the Stewart Chairman’s Award. In 2024, four teams and thirteen individuals stood out for their exceptional dedication, collaboration and impact across the organization.

Established in September 2021, the Chairman’s Award “celebrates the best among us and the best about us,” says Stewart CEO Fred Eppinger. It honors employees who exemplify Stewart’s values and demonstrate an unwavering commitment to making us the Premier Real Estate Services Company. Nominated by their peers and carefully selected by executive leadership, these honorees represent the very best of Stewart’s DNA. Congratulations to the outstanding team members recognized this year!

Chairman’s Award Individual Winners

Dan Outland | SVP of Enterprise Operations

Selected for his pivotal role in driving significant cost savings and improving the financial performance of our company through strategic decision-making and operational efficiency, helping Stewart navigate data usage reductions, data contract consolidation, data digitization and data disaster recovery practices.

Shannon Flugstad | Branch Manager, Rainier Title – Bellevue, WA

Selected for her leadership and managing the top revenue producing Rainier Title branch, which includes the highest number of transactions closed by Rainier every year since she took over as manager in 2021.

Stephanie Miller | Senior Field Finance Manager

Selected for her work at the center of multiple operational activities within National Commercial Services (NCS) that led to the team’s success, including creating processes and starting a team for managing and processing search invoices for the Stewart Title Energy and Infrastructure Group’s 5,000-plus energy projects.

Emily Rank | Title Operations Manager, Stewart Title of Colorado and Empire Title

Selected for being the “go-to” person for all title issues for both Empire Title and Stewart of Colorado. She consistently goes above and beyond, working hands-on with multiple teams to ensure that every detail is handled and every transaction makes it to the closing table.

Ashley McRae | Senior Underwriting Counsel and Florida Agency State Counsel

Selected for her exceptional leadership, legal expertise, and unwavering commitment to supporting agents and growing Stewart’s presence in Florida. Her work is a direct reflection of her strong agent relationships and the confidence she instills through service and expertise.

Khalid Adeel | Senior Network Engineer

Selected for successfully managing the entire Global Voice Operations, ensuring seamless communication during critical migrations, outages, and transitions, which includes maintaining and optimizing thousands of phones and systems across Stewart's more than 500 U.S. offices. He is also the first employee outside of North America to win a Chairman’s Award.

Rey Borrego | Senior Agency Agreements and Compliance Specialist

Selected for his unmatched responsiveness, deep knowledge, and the steady, behind-the-scenes support he provides that helps drive Stewart’s growth—one agent relationship at a time. Rey’s work reflects the best of Stewart’s values: ownership, partnership and service without ego.

Joseph Silang | Vice President and Assistant Corporate Controller

Selected for his exceptional leadership, flawless execution, and commitment to building a high-performing team that delivers for Stewart year after year. His reputation for excellence has earned recognition at the highest levels of the company.

Peggy Dalton | Senior Director, Default and Investor Solutions

Selected for her exceptional leadership, client-focused innovation, and unwavering dedication to growing Stewart’s Investor Solutions platform. Inside the organization, Peggy is respected for her ability to bring people together. She regularly collaborates across business lines, forging partnerships to create seamless solutions for investors. As one colleague put it, “She is the best of the best.”

Sharon Morrison | Senior Field Finance Manager

Selected for her remarkable leadership in transforming Legal Services through innovation, collaboration and a drive for continuous improvement. Whether she’s streamlining workflows, rolling out new tools, or building partnerships between Legal, IT, and Finance, Sharon keeps people at the center of every solution.

Karen Decker | Senior Vice President & International Chief Underwriting Counsel

Selected for her exceptional leadership, long-standing commitment to Stewart’s growth and her influential role in shaping the title insurance industry in Canada. When the concept of title insurance was still unfamiliar in the market, she was among the first to educate legal professionals, stakeholders and the public—holding sessions, writing articles, and serving as a trusted resource for anyone who had questions. Throughout her career, Karen has shaped Stewart’s reputation, grown the business, and inspired others to lead with the same integrity, humility, and heart she brings every day.

Valarie Wallin | Title Operations Supervisor

Selected for her vital part of the National Exam Team expanding into 40 states and Washington, D.C. by developing state-specific training and knowledge-sharing resources. Her customer-oriented approach allows her to provide effective solutions that meet both current and emerging needs, reflecting her accountability and ownership mentality.

Javier Peña | Division President, San Juan County, New Mexico

Selected for being the driving force behind the creation and implementation of the new title plant in San Juan County, New Mexico, resulting in the closing of large energy, commercial and residential deals. In his role, Javier has demonstrated an entrepreneurial spirit and a commitment to customer service.

Chairman’s Award Team Winners

Onboarding Experience Project Team
Vanessa Jenkins, Gerardo Bravo, David Daggy and Zach Grisbee

Selected for enhancing and streamlining our new hire onboarding experience, as well as developing new resources to support our hiring managers through the process of successfully attracting and onboarding new talent to Stewart. Their commitment to enhancing the onboarding process showcases their unified effort, working seamlessly as a team with members from HR and technology

Selected for their outstanding recovery results, cost-effective operations and unwavering commitment to protecting Stewart’s bottom line. This team combines legal skill with teamwork, creativity and consistency. They support each other, stay focused on the details and always look for the best outcome for Stewart.

Stewart Valuation Intelligence’s Client Relationship Team
Tory Stoffregen, Lauren Billings and Michael Sukeforth

Selected for their outstanding service, strategic growth, and dedication to building strong, lasting client partnerships. Working strategically to deliver valuation intelligence, they help drive business forward by staying one step ahead of client needs and finding new opportunities to add value. Their approach is thoughtful, consistent and rooted in trust.

CenCal Team
J.R. Vidales, Shawna Rosso and Steve Smith

Selected for working around the clock for more than three weeks to perfect a 500-page title report involving 120 parcels in four California counties, requiring 90 pages of legal descriptions, including 1,900 exceptions, each exception needing to be hyperlinked to the underlying documents, to a search dating back to Spanish land grants. The cooperation among this staff for the benefit of a customer is the model of the Stewart spirit of teamwork and platinum customer service.

Stewart wishes these individuals and teams congratulations and continued success. We are proud to recognize their work and thank them for driving our journey to being the Premier Title Services Company.

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