Then & Now: Title executive’s path focused on growth

Editor’s Note: The following story appeared in the April 22 issue of the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal. “Then & Now” is a profile of a past member of the Business Journal’s Forty Under 40 class.

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Amanda Brumbelow started her first business, a childcare center, when she was 27. When she sold it three years later, she recalled telling her mother she never wanted to manage people again.

She’s come a long way since then.

During a recent interview, Brumbelow recounted that story while reflecting on her commitment to personal growth and developing leaders. Those have been focus areas over the past decade while working in the title business, highlighted by the launch of a leadership development consultancy in 2022.

“In 2014, I was fairly young on my leadership journey,” she said. “Honestly, I had to learn a lot about myself to lead people. I’ve learned a lot over the past 10 years and will continue learning over the next 10 years.”

Brumbelow, who turns 50 this year, is still learning — and leading — as vice president of operations at Allegiance Title Co. of Arkansas in Fayetteville. She’s one of three partners at the firm, which launched in the summer of 2021 and has grown to 17 employees.

“We have grown our market visibility, which was the goal a year ago,” Brumbelow said. “We are super intentional about taking care of the customer. Many people say that, but I don’t know that many people really deliver on that.”

Starting in 2012, Brumbelow worked for Waco Title Co. for nearly a decade. She quickly became residential closing manager in 2014, when the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal named her to its annual Forty Under 40 class.

The following year, the company elevated Brumbelow to director of closing operations, a critical leadership role for one of the state’s oldest and largest title companies. She also built several unique programs during her tenure, including training for new closing agents.

Brumbelow resigned from Waco Title at the end of 2021 and launched her second business in January 2022. ARDÚ Business Advisors is a niche leadership development and business coaching firm. ARDÚ is an acronym for articulate, refine, develop and unveil.

Brumbelow is one of the only business coaches in the country solely focused on small business title companies. She said she’s only aware of one other business coach who’s a member of the American Land Title Association (ALTA). That business model focuses on implementing a sales strategy.

In the spring of 2022, Brumbelow complemented her work at ARDÚ by returning to the title business, joining some familiar faces at Allegiance Title. Patrick Curry, the CEO, and Brian Blackman, vice president and general counsel, were former Waco Title executives. Brumbelow said Curry convinced her to join the business during a challenging year personally — her husband and father were both battling cancer.

“I refocused my energy on my husband and my dad, but I was open to joining the [Allegiance Title] team,” she recalled. “But I was clear I didn’t want to be [just] an employee. If I am going to do something, I want it to be mine. That’s the reason I started ARDÚ: I wanted to own my business. So, I was given the opportunity to invest in Allegiance as a partner [in May 2023].”

Over the past decade, Brumbelow said that reading or listening to books, leadership assessments and coaching have helped her professionally.

“I have a passion for people development, culture, structure and process,” she explained, adding that she’d coached over a dozen leaders into their current roles.

Brumbelow said she is most proud of her two daughters, who are in their 20s, for the strong leaders they’ve become.

“They lead with their heart and gut,” she said. “That makes my heart happy, considering I was probably a workaholic 10 years ago. Maybe I was, which is why I am so thankful for my husband and our partnership over the past 28 years.”

Brumbelow joined the board of directors for Habitat for Humanity of Washington County in 2018 and was elected president in 2021.

Brumbelow said she’s excited about Allegiance Title’s potential in Northwest Arkansas. The company is tilted heavily toward residential transactions, but the commercial team is growing. She said the business will “definitely” be expanding to Benton County with a brick-and-mortar location.

“I will spend my energy building Allegiance Title Co. of Arkansas and developing an empowered team of leaders,” she said. “It’s not about me; it’s about them.”