Forty Under 40: Matt Kendall

One could say title work and Northwest Arkansas are in Matt Kendall’s blood.

His children will be the eighth generation born and raised in Rogers, quite a family feat in today’s mobile society. And his father purchased one of the oldest title companies in the area — Benton County Title and Abstract Co. — when Kendall was just a child.

Kendall, 39, worked at BCT&A during summers off from studies at Hendrix University, where he graduated with a degree in business economics and an emphasis in accounting in 1992. He then joined Arvest Bank as an internal auditor for about a year before joining the family business in 1993 and earning his CPA certificate in 1994.

He stayed with BCT&A through early 2000. During that time he was responsible for the company’s technology and operations, which he used when he joined Arvest Bank Group Inc., parent to WACO. Improving efficiencies is never far from Kendall’s mind, so he was responsible for revamping WACO’s telecom and computer systems and within a year transitioned to an operations role with WACO.

He was named COO in 2003, and has seen the company grow from 40 associates to 120, mostly through acquisition.

“Converting them and bringing them into our title and closing model has been a big project for us for the last several years,” he said.