A 24-year veteran of the title industry, Cleveland native Mike Maniche is the President of Guardian Title. He leverages his years of experience to successfully lead the company. He is responsible for setting the strategic direction of Guardian Title and ensuring that it provides the highest level of service to its clients.
Mike’s most important objective is harnessing the strength and talent of the company’s employees to ensure clients receive prompt, courteous, personal, and professional service on every transaction. His extensive title background, impressive client relations and excellent motivational and management skills have gained him much respect within the real estate industry and among his colleagues and peers. Mike’s standard for excellence has resulted in a strong and deep bench of professionals at Guardian who share the same value of delivering quality on every transaction.
His title insurance career began in 1985 when he joined Executive Title as a sales representative. He left Executive Title in 1992 as the Vice President of Sales. Guardian Title hired Mike in 1992 as Sales Manager. The business grew exponentially from 2 to 9 offices under his leadership, and from less than $3 million to over $9 million in sales. In 1999, Mike left Guardian Title to become President of Stewart Title Agency of Ohio. In 2005, Mike returned to Guardian as its President.
Mike participates in trade groups that foster the interests of the real estate markets, including Building Owners and Managers Association, National Association of Industry and Office Properties, Greater Cleveland Mortgage Bankers Association, Commercial Real Estate for Women, and Cleveland Area Board of Realtors (CABOR). As an industry leader, he has provided to real estate organizations fundamental title advice and education.
Mike is an avid volunteer and encourages Guardian Title employees to contribute time and service to the communities where they work and live. He serves on the Parish Council at Immaculate Conception Church in Willoughby, where he is also the president of their Endowment Committee. He is a former member of the Board of Governors for Quail Hollow Country Club, and is a past president of the Men’s Golf Association and past chairman of the Golf Committee. He was the first affiliate director for CABOR serving from 1998 thru 2002. His contributions to the organization have resulted in Mike receiving the 2001 Affiliate of the Year, and the 2002 Commercial Affiliate of the Year.
Timothy L. Kalep possesses 37 years of management experience in the title insurance and settlement services industry. Beginning with a career which started with Ticor Title in Southfield, Michigan, Timm is known for successfully assisting and leading companies and their employees in embracing and creating a culture of constant and never ending improvement and delivering the exceptional transactional experience.
Timm has served in local, state, regional and national roles. Previous positions include, President, Real Living Title Agency, Vice President, Metropolitan Title, a wholly owned subsidiary of First American Title, overseeing all of its Ohio title insurance operations. He also served as Metropolitan’s Director of Real Estate Information Services, where he oversaw the Equity Services Division, instrumental in managing the title operations for various real estate affiliated joint ventures as well as the company’s largest title production facility. Timm has also served as Vice President and Ohio State Agency Manager at Fidelity National Title Group, Senior Vice President Director of National Operations for First American Equity Loan Services, Director of National Operations for Valocity, a national real estate valuation company and various positions at TRW Real Estate Information Services including Senior Vice President of National Operations, Regional Vice President, Mid Atlantic Division, and Vice President of Michigan and Pennsylvania Operations.
Timm has been a featured guest on Title Radio, appeared in numerous articles in The Title Report and has participated as an industry leader panelist participant in The National Settlement Services Summit held in Cleveland each year.
Yolanda Sales is the Training/Systems Process Manager for Guardian Title and has more than 23 years of title and escrow experience, 11 of those years have been with Guardian Title. She helps buyers and sellers of homes and businesses expedite their real estate transactions in the most time efficient and cost effective manner. She has gained the knowledge of handling real estate transactions in both lucrative and challenging real estate conditions. Her vast expertise ranges from examining titles to underwriting files and reviewing financials as well as developing policy and procedures. She received her B.A. in Management from Malone University where she is currently working on attaining her Masters. She is a certified instructor for the Ohio Division of Real Estate, a Notary Public and a licensed Title Agent.
Kimberly McNally is the General Counsel of Guardian Title. She manages the company’s Commercial Division and has closed commercial transactions throughout Ohio as well as on a national level and has extensive experience in dealing with every aspect of title examining and escrow. Kim is a member of the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association and Ohio State Bar Associations, the Cleveland Chapter of Commercial Real Estate Women (CREW), and the Ohio Land Title Association. Kim received her B.A. degree from John Carroll University, obtained her J.D. from the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law and is licensed to practice law in the state of Ohio and is a licensed Title Agent.
Christian Hamm, Manager of Guardian Equity Services, has more than 14 years of title and real estate experience. His experience with and knowledge of the second mortgage market delivers lenders valuable insight into the various title, appraisal and flood hazard products, and regulations impacting the competitive home equity industry. Christian has helped grow Equity Services over the past 11 years from a single client start-up to a regional title and abstract provider servicing customers in seven States. He received his B.A. degree from Miami University of Ohio, and is a licensed Ohio Title Agent.
Valerie Tocci is Guardian's Sales Manager and brings 25 years of experience in the title insurance industry to the company. Her primary focus is to help the company grow the residential side of its title and escrow business in Northeast Ohio. Valerie is an active member of the Cleveland Area Board of Realtors (CABOR) and Women’s Council of Realtors. She is a two-time recipient of the CABOR Affiliate of the Year Award and has been recognized for her outstanding service and contributions to the real estate community, including the Distinguished Service Award from CABOR. Valerie is a graduate from The University of Akron where she earned her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Marketing.
Jack Branden is a Manager of Commercial Accounts. He has more than 30 years of business to business sales and marketing experience in the electronic machine control and industrial distribution industries. His track record includes achieving a 400% increase in sales for his former employer, entering new international markets and growing foreign sales by 35%, and managing large publicly traded clients. He is a member of National Association of Industrial and Office Properties, Cleveland Area Board of Realtors, and Greater Cleveland Mortgage Bankers Association. Jack is a graduate of Cornell University where he received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Economics.
Marianna Jones has more than 10 years of title experience and is a Regional Account Manager for Guardian Title servicing Summit, Portage, Medina, and Stark counties. She leverages her years of experience and knowledge to successfully manage title matters during the transaction process. Her experience reviewing and clearing title work, processing escrow, and handling closings allow her to deliver the best results for her customers, who rely on her proven know-how to foresee potential issues before they arise. Marianna received her B.S. degree in Accounting from the University of Akron, and is currently a member of the Business and Professional Women / USA / Akron.
