Illinois Real Estate Title Center was recently named one of the 2019 “Best Places to Work” by Springfield Business Journal and United Community Bank. Photo by Terry Farmer.

Springfield-based title agency Illinois Real Estate Title Center, located at 2055 W. Iles Ave., has acquired First Community Title Services, a subsidiary of Heartland Bancorp, Inc. The acquisition adds FCT’s Bloomington, Champaign and Pekin locations to The Title Center’s existing offices in Springfield, Effingham, Jacksonville, Paris, Peoria and Quincy, for a total of nine locations.

Dana Lyons, who was previously the agency manager for The Title Center, is now moving into a new role as vice president of multi-state marketing for Investors Title Management Services, which manages and oversees The Title Center.

“It was not an easy decision because The Title Center means so much to me,” Lyons said. “I opened the agency and have worked there since day one. But we had gotten to the point that in order to continue growing, I had to have some help.”

Terry Prillaman, who most recently served as vice president and general counsel for FCT, will now be taking on the same role with The Title Center. David Coltrin, former title services manager of FCT’s Pekin office, will now be working out of The Title Center’s Springfield office as assistant vice president and operations manager.

Lyons said she will be traveling a lot in her new role, overseeing title centers in both Illinois and Indiana. “I’m still going to be managing The Title Center, just from a different vantage point. We’ve got some great talent to oversee the agency.”

She said that while a dozen of the former FTC employees will now be working for The Title Center, there is a possibility of hiring additional staff in the coming months.

“We hope that we continue to grow, and I see adding more branches,” Lyons said. “I’m not sure where we’ll need to go next, but those opportunities tend to present themselves.”