Pioneer Title Agency, a family owned business that is today the largest title agency statewide, announced its formal expansion into Pima County with the purchase of Metro Title Agency of Arizona. Through the purchase, Metro Title Agency’s four branches in Pima County, including its corporate headquarters at 2502 E. River Road; Northwest branch located at 3450 E. Sunrise Drive; Southwest branch located at 301 W. Ajo Way; and Green Valley/Tubac branch – which also services Santa Cruz – located at 101 S. La Canada Drive, are all now effectively Pioneer Title Agency offices, as well as Metro Title’s Northern Arizona operations with branch manager Janel Miller at the helm. Each of the branch managers in Tucson, including industry veterans and local leaders Marianne Bourdeau, Laura Amick, Angela Garcia, Sandra Blythe and Cheryle Gonzales, will remain, as will their entire branch staffs.
Pioneer Title Agency has proudly been serving Arizona since its inception in 1985. With more than 600 team members working at their 63 Pioneer and eight Yavapai Title Agency branches across Arizona, including 20 branches in Maricopa County alone, the company is able to focus on ensuring the rights of one’s property are clear, and the transfer of title is completed in a timely fashion, with the upmost professionalism.
“While these branches mark our first physical locations in the area, our family has been a part of the fabric of Tucson and Pima County for nearly five decades,” said Keith Newlon, co-founder and president of Pioneer Title Agency, who himself went to high school in the area.
Keith’s father and Pioneer Title Agency co-founder Robert “Bob” Newlon – a Navy veteran – served as vice president of Transamerica in Tucson in the 1970s then as co-owner and president of Title Guaranty from 1978 to 1985. Newlon became a Tucson Conquistador in 1971 and remained actively involved in the organization for 43 years until his passing in 2014, including stints as chairman of the Sports Award Banquet, chairman of the Joe Garagiola Tucson Open and as a long-time member of their board of directors. In 1985, Newlon and wife, Betty Joe, partnered with son Keith and daughter-in-law Cindy Newlon to purchase the Cochise County operation from Title Guaranty and formed Pioneer Title Agency, where Bob continued to serve as chairman of the board until his death. In 2000, the Newlon family purchased Yavapai Title Agency, where Bob also served as chairman for the remainder of his life. He was also a past president and life member of the Land Title Association of Arizona and an active member of the American Land Title Association. Like Bob, Keith was also recently named a life member and past President of the Land Title Association of Arizona.
Betty Joe Newlon’s roots run similarly deep. After she and Bob moved to Tucson in the 1970s, she earned her PhD. in Psychology from the University of Arizona. Once she successfully completed the program, she then received a Federal grant for Career Education that lead to her becoming a professor at the UA, where she would eventually help to establish the Career Counseling Center for the school. She served UA from 1971 to her passing in 2007.
Still a local, family-owned business, Pioneer has grown steadily and responsibly – even through real estate downturns and recessions – by remaining focused on a “Commitment to Service.”
In Southern Arizona, Pioneer’s leaders and team members are involved with the Chambers of Commerce, Associations of REALTORS, Land Title Association of Arizona, Kiwanis, and many other groups. Similarly committed to the community, Pioneer also has a statewide community relations program, Pioneer Title Agency in Action, which focuses on giving back both time and money to local causes across our state. In fact, for its 30th anniversary in recent years, the Pioneer Title Agency team joined together for a joint cause they called “Take a Hike,” wherein they collectively hiked, biked, ran and rode (on horseback, no less!) all 800-plus miles of the Arizona National Scenic Trail. In addition, the company set a goal of raising at least $30,000 to support the trail through the initiative, and far exceeded it, donating more than $60,000 to support the Arizona Trail Association and its mission to maintain and protect the Arizona Trail.
For more information, visit www.ptaaz.com.
