WSWA Hires Michelle L. Korsmo as New Chief Executive

She’s CEO of the American Land Title Association (ALTA) and will join WSWA full-time in mid-September.  She succeeds Craig Wolf, who announced his retirement earlier this year and is running for Maryland attorney general on the Republican ticket.

Under her leadership, ALTA doubled its membership and revenues, and tripled fundraising for the Title Industry PAC. Korsmo’s over-the-horizon focus helped her team develop innovative solutions for the industry. These included a values program to assist members in establishing a culture of compliance, a plain language communications program to assist member interaction with homebuyers, and a best-practices standard to navigate the post-Dodd-Frank regulatory environment.

Korsmo joined ALTA after serving as executive vice president of the Americans for Prosperity Foundation. Previously, Korsmo served as deputy chief of staff at the U.S. Department of Labor. In that role, she managed Departmental agency heads, served as a member of the budget committee, exercised approval authority on all Departmental action to be published in the Federal Register, and developed an outreach program to the non-profit community.

Following her education at North Dakota State University, Korsmo began her career as a business owner in her home state of North Dakota, where she built her own public advocacy and political consulting firm representing a consortium of organizations before the North Dakota Legislature.

Korsmo said she is “inspired by the industry’s record of accomplishment. Family-owned wholesalers, along with supplier and retailer partners, and state and federal legislators and regulators, have together built the safest, and most well-regulated and enterprising beverage marketplace in the world. But there is no denying that it operates in a disruptive economy and the association must be prepared for the future. Finding consumer-focused solutions for these challenges is an opportunity I welcome, and I’m excited about what the future holds,” Korsmo added.

Prior to joining ALTA, Korsmo served as executive vice president of the Americans for Prosperity Foundation and previously served as deputy chief of staff at the U.S. Department of Labor. She began her career as a business owner in North Dakota where she built an advocacy and communications firm. She attended North Dakota State University and lives in Washington, D.C.’s Georgetown neighborhood with her husband and three daughters.

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