Beyond the How:
Ken Kirkner’s Pursuit of “Why” & His Desire for a Smarter, More Efficient Industry
For more than three decades, Ken Kirkner has been a quiet force for change in the title and escrow industry. He doesn’t chase the spotlight or rely on showmanship. His approach is simple: pursue efficiency and design processes so seamless they almost disappear. Ken is the problem-solver who looks at a cluttered workflow and imagines a friction-free system instead.
The Spark of “Why”
Ken’s career began in 1985, not with a blueprint for disruption, but with curiosity. A conversation with his real estate broker father led him to an opening at a title company. He quickly picked up the technical skill, including preparing settlement sheets, ordering payoffs, and closing transactions.
But something was missing. He knew how to complete each task, but not why it had to be done that way. Why those tax adjustments? Why that document sequence? The questions piled up. And what he saw in himself, he saw across the industry: talented professionals working by rote without ever seeing the bigger picture. That realization became his mission, to help others understand not just the how, but the why.
From Technician to Innovator
Ken’s reputation for getting things done soon took him to Trident Land Transfer Company, where his gift for project management met its first big test. At a time when the industry was still buried in paper, Trident asked him to lead a bold transformation: go completely paperless. He figured out a way to make it happen.
Not every experiment went as planned. Around 2008, he spearheaded an early transaction management platform, a proto-closing portal that promised transparency for buyers, sellers, agents, and lenders. Leadership was excited, but after launch, adoption was dismal. Staff struggled to see the value, and agents resisted change. The vision was right, but the timing and trust weren’t there.
The lesson stuck. Innovation wasn’t just about software. It was about change management, timing, and building allies. Ken began identifying “power users,” respected peers who could champion new systems, and he carried that philosophy into his long-standing involvement with the SoftPro User Group, where his practical feedback has helped shape the platform’s evolution.
The Efficiency Mandate
Today, at Truly Title, Ken wears three hats: Head of Product, SoftPro Administrator, and architect of the company’s Power BI reports. In every role, one principle guides him: efficiency.
At conferences, he’s known for asking a single question of vendors: “Are you integrated with SoftPro 360?” If the answer is no, the conversation ends politely but firmly. To Ken, a lack of integration means another handoff, another chance for error. Efficiency isn’t optional; it’s the mandate.
And he sees the next leap coming fast. “Why can’t AI…?” he predicts, will soon be as common in title and escrow as “Google it” is in everyday life. He envisions AI reading closing instructions, populating data fields, ordering payoffs, even assisting with title searches. For him, AI is not a threat, but the next frontier of efficiency.
Breaking the Paper Habit
Yet one industry quirk continues to frustrate him. “We get the lender’s package electronically, print it for signing, then scan it back to send it electronically,” he says with a laugh. This print-scan cycle is, to him, a stubborn addiction to paper that technology must finally break.
Ken dreams of a fully integrated system where every party (lender, realtor, title professional, consumer) works from one portal, one source of truth. He admits it’s a “chicken-and-egg” dilemma. “Who takes the first step?” he wonders. Still, he believes that’s where the industry is headed.
A Smarter Industry
For Ken, the purpose of his work distills into a simple phrase: reduce the handoffs, reduce the friction, reduce the potential for issues. His career proves the power of a unifying vision and relentless commitment to making a complex industry just a little more elegant.
And his story isn’t just about what he’s built, it’s also a guide for how others can think about technology and process. When evaluating software, workflows, or new partnerships, leaders can hold up each option to three questions:
- Does it reduce handoffs? Every extra handoff is an opening for error. The best solutions keep information flowing seamlessly.
- Does it reduce friction? Efficiency means ease. If a tool makes life harder for staff, customers, or partners, it isn’t solving the problem.
- Does it reduce the potential for issues? The ultimate test: does this choice lower risk (fewer mistakes, fewer bottlenecks, fewer surprises)?
For Ken, these principles all trace back to the same starting point: the why. Understanding why each step matters has fueled his curiosity, shaped his problem-solving, and guided his push for smarter systems. It’s that mindset, asking why before chasing how, that turns efficiency into more than a buzzword. It makes it a strategy for building not just better businesses, but a better industry.
