With more than 30 years of industry experience, Annette Cotton possesses expert knowledge of real estate data.
She earned her leadership status by working in every role that supports data manufacturing, including source acquisition, data extraction, research, quality and delivery. In her role as vice president of data operations, Cotton leads more than 150 employees and manages client fulfillment, captive offshore production and vendor oversight. She actively contributes to building the market-leading suite of data assets serving the financial services market segment. For example, Cotton led a revolutionary change to the methods used to manufacture data with modern tools and technology, collecting 60% more data at a reduced cost and achieving higher quality standards than manual methods. Under her leadership, First American has become the largest provider of title plant data, which represents the deepest, regionally sourced collection of public records available. As a result, clients experience the highest data accuracy and completeness of any source and see a competitive advantage when they use DataTree products like the national HOA database and PACE loan monitoring. Internally, Cotton advocates for female executives and created the Future Women in Leadership program.