Who We Are

Palmetto Land Title Association is the professional community you’ve been searching for.

No one understands what your business needs to succeed better than the title agents, practitioners and underwriters who live and work alongside you in South Carolina.

Our tight-knit community is missing one thing: you. For over 40 years, the PLTA has represented the title industry in South Carolina, providing several services and benefits to its members. Formed in 1977, the PLTA strives to maintain professional standards and ethics, provide educational programs and industry information to benefit our members, and the consumers they serve and play a vital role in advancing our industry. We’ve had many legislative victories, including the Lyons vs. Fidelity case and the passing of the flat rate filing fee recording bill.

Our Membership consists of title insurance underwriters and agents, attorneys and other real estate business professionals. We know a thing or two about Southern hospitality and work hard to ensure each member feels at home here. An elected Board of Directors and Officers governs the association. We utilize a volunteer Committee structure that allows members to make a direct impact by using their skills, talents and experience.

Come for the history. Stay for the hospitality.

In early 1965, Don B. Nichols, then Vice President of ALTA, came to the Carolinas calling on title insurance companies to generate interest in a trade organization. A group of attorneys, including Bruce Boney, Dave Mellichamp, Jack Donnell, Archie Walker, Jack Martin and Joseph Roof took on the challenge, forming the Carolinas Land Title Association in Pinehurst, NC in April of 1966.

Bruce Boney became the first president of the CLTA, with two South Carolinians, David S. Mellichamp (1967-1968) and Joseph Roof (1971-1972), later holding the role. However, the North and South had different ways of doing business and could not see eye to eye. At the CLTA convention held in Wrightsville Beach in 1977, South Carolina petitioned for secession from the CLTA. On September 26, 1977, both sides sat down and drew up a resolution to split their union into separate states. On November 28, 1977, the South Carolina Secretary of State, O. Frank Thornton, signed the necessary papers and the PALMETTO LAND TITLE ASSOCIATION was born.

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Smiling faces, taking our association to beautiful places.

Our officers ask questions, listen and focus on what matters most to you and your clients.

OFFICERS

5
Dawn Watkins, Esquire

President
Commonwealth Land Title Insurance Co./Fidelity National Title Insurance Co.

David Ziegler, Esquire

Immediate Past President
Chicago Title Insurance Company

Kimberly Ziegler, Esquire

President Elect
McAngus Goudelock & Courie, LLC

Julie Felker

Secretary
Commonwealth Land Title Insurance Co./Fidelity National Title Insurance Co.

Cyndi Fowler

Treasurer
Old Republic Title

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Stephanie Argoe

WFG National Title Insurance Co.

Benjamin A. “Ben” Dunn, II, Esq.

Ormand Dunn

Emily B. Howard, Esq.

Bell Carrington Price & Gregg

Oscar Ody

Lighthouse Title Insurance Company

Micah Owen

Alliant National Title Insurance Company

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Alexa Stillwell

PLTA PRESIDENTS FROM 1977 - 2025

2024 David Ziegler
2023 Sara Sigwart
2022 Jesse Cavett
2021 Celeste Bowers
2020 Jordan Stallings
2019 Darcy Templeton
2018 Sarah Fuentes
2017 Jay Moseley
2016 Jennifer Rubin
2015 Lisa Hostetler
2014 Jenny Isgett
2013 Brian Bonner

2012 Martha McConnell
2011 Teri Callen Stomski
2010 Ben Dunn
2009 Stephanie Munsey
2008 Joby Castine
2007 Cynthia Blair
2006 Christie Funchess
2005 Christie Funchess
2004 Cynthia Hall Ouzts
2003 Tracy Huddleston
2002 Greg Scanio
2001 Kathleen Klopcic

2000 Diane D. Brewer
1999 Claire T. Manning
1998 Marybeth Meyers
1997 Roddy M. Jordan
1996 Susan F. Davis
1995 Annette H. Gamble
1994 Mary G. Webster
1993 Peggy A. Powell
1992 W. Ivey Hart
1991 James E. Knight, Jr.
1990 Nancy K. Hallman
1989 Laura M. Hulst

1988 Joby C. Castine
1987 Marilyn Livingston
1986 Patricia Quattlebaum
1985 Anne D. Mixon
1984 Anne D. Mixon
1983 Nancy Hallman
1982 Charles E. Hedgepath
1981 David E. Mellichamp
1980 Oliver I. Crawford
1979 P. King Holmes
1978 Ernest H. Stanley, Jr.
1977 Michael C. Britt

The J. Lee McDonald Award

The J. Lee McDonald Award recognizes someone who has made outstanding contributions to the Palmetto Land Title Association (PLTA). It may include special accomplishments during the previous year or long-term commendable service to the Association.

PAST RECIPIENTS OF THE J. LEE MCDONALD AWARD ARE:

2024 Sara Sigwart
2023 Jesse Cavett
2022 Darcy S. Templeton
2021 Demetri “Jim” K. Koutrakos
2020 Pillaure Cleary
2019 Jennifer W. Rubin
2018 Jason Moseley
2017 Jennifer W. Rubin
2016 Lisa Hostetler
2015 Martha McConnell
2014 Teri Callen
2013 Derek Gillis
2012 Kim Burkett
2011 Clint Yarborough
2010 Cynthia D. Blair

2009 Graydon V. Olive, III
2008 Cynthia Hall Ouzts
2007 Christine Funchess
2006 Nancy H. Booco
2005 Tracey Huddleston
2004 W. Ivey Hart
2003 Roddy M. Jordan
2002 Kathy Klocic
2001 Greg Scanio
2000 Claire T. Manning
1999 Marybeth Meyers
1998 Richard M. Unger
1997 Mary G. Webster
1996 Stephen A. Spitz
1995 Patricia Paris

1994 Joby C. Castine
1993 Susan F. Davis
1992 Peggy A. Powell
1991 David E. Mellichamp
1990 Anne D. Mixon
1989 Mark L. Hershberger
1988 Oliver I. Crawford
1987 P. King Holmes
1986 Ginger Gross
1985 NO AWARD
1984 Linda Wilson
1983 Anne D. Mixon
1982 Annette Howard
1981 Laura M. Hulst
1980 Georgianna Coates

2025 AWARD RECIPIENT
Pierson Tobin

pierson-senior-picture

Dear Ms. Floyd and Members of the Palmetto Land Title Association,

I am honored to be awarded the Mary G. Webster Scholarship. Thank you so much for your support as I continue my academic journey. I am from Charleston, SC, and currently attend the University of South Carolina as a junior. I am a major in both International Business as well as Operations & Supply Chain, with a minor in Spanish. I enjoy travelling, being outside, and watching sports – especially Gamecock football. This past spring I worked at a concession stand at the Masters golf tournament before working in the supply chain department for a designer lighting company in North Charleston called The Urban Electric Co. I was also able to visit New Zealand and Colombia this past summer. This coming spring I will be studying abroad in Santiago, Chile, for a semester. I hope to visit the Patagonia mountains there and return home fluent in Spanish.

Sincerely,
Pierson Tobin

We play by the rules

Help shape the PLTA. Join a Committee.

Our committees are made up of volunteers who help the association accomplish great things year after year. Under the direction of the Board of Directors, in conjunction with the PLTA staff, committees are responsible for planning programs and developing services for the association. To sign up for a PLTA committee, please email in**@****ta.org or fill out the form below.