Speakers: Margaret Fortuna, Esq. serves as Vice President and Senior Commercial Underwriting Counsel for Commonwealth Land Title's Boston National Commercial Services (NCS) operation. She joined the Company in July of 2015 after having previously worked for another underwriter. Her previous roles included Massachusetts Underwriting and Claims Counsel, Southern New England Claims Counsel, and New England Claims Counsel. Prior to working for a title insurance underwriter, Margaret was in private practice where she gained experience in residential conveyancing, title examination (residential and commercial) and provided title opinions to the cell/wireless industry as outside counsel. A true collaborator, her approachability, responsiveness, as well as her immense underwriting experience, allows her to delineate the underwriting risk and the customer needs.
Margaret's memberships include the Abstract Club, Real Estate Bar Association of Massachusetts (“REBA”), REBA Title Standards Committee, and the Massachusetts State Bar. She is a contributing author to the Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education (“MCLE”) publication, Massachusetts Mortgages, Foreclosures and Workouts Manual, and is a frequent panelist/speaker for MCLE seminars.
Margaret graduated from Boston College in 1989 with a BA in Political Science, Magna Cum Laude, and Boston College Law School in 1992. She is an avid Boston Red Sox, New England Patriot, and Boston College Eagles fan!
Jill Sharif serves as Vice President, National Business Development for Commonwealth Land Title Insurance Company’s Boston National Commercial Services operation. Prior to joining the Boston NCS in 2021, she worked for a major underwriter where Jill was consistently recognized companywide as one of the highest performing members of the sales and escrow teams for commercial real estate transactions in the country. She has worked on numerous complex single and multi-site transactions throughout the country for all asset classes.
A leading voice in the title insurance industry, Jill has participated on many industry panels, spoken at several university classrooms and career events, clarifying and expanding on title insurance. In addition to title insurance, she is one of the leading experts on the application of UCC Insurance, Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code, and title insurance for real estate mezzanine transactions. Jill has also provided numerous CLE presentations to companies that want a detailed look at UCC and other commercial transactions and co-authored “Mitigating the Risk of a Loan Portfolio Acquisition with UCC Insurance" published in The Practical Real Estate Lawyer.
Jill was the president of CREW Boston in 2019-2020, one of the largest CREW Network chapters. During her time as president, Jill refocused and led the organization through the height of the pandemic and is currently serving as the chair of CREW Boston’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) Task Force. In 2018, Jill was among the many participants honored with the CREW Boston Networking Award for her contributions to the One Dalton project in Boston. She was named the 80th CREW Visionary in 2020, a recognition for charitable giving to advance the careers of women in commercial real estate. In 2021, The Boston Real Estate Times honored Jill as one of 10 Outstanding Women Leaders in Boston commercial real estate. Also in 2021, she was recognized by the GlobeSt.com Women of Influence Awards as a Diversity Champion for her groundbreaking work with CREW Boston on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives. She is currently the 2024 President-Elect for REFA, an association formed to bring together the best people, knowledge, and experience to provide informative programs and networking opportunities for commercial real estate finance professionals throughout the Greater Boston area with over 700 members. In April 2024 she will be honored with the CREW Boston Leadership Award, which recognizes a member who has inspired, motivated, and supported CREW Boston year after year and contributed her time, energy, and talents in leadership roles within the Greater Boston real estate community. She is also a member of ICSC, NAIOP (Gavel Member), REFA, and ULI (member of the URC Product Council).
Jill is a graduate of the University of Connecticut and a member of the UConn Boston Leadership Committee. This group is tasked with increasing UConn’s visibility by building stronger networks among UConn alumni, supporting more jobs for UConn students in the Boston area, supporting philanthropy, and promoting corporate sponsorships and research.
Jill has been a member of the Heading Home Housewarming Committee for the past 3 years. This year, in place of Heading Home’s Housewarming event, teams of Boston leaders set out to raise $1 million for Heading Home. As a result, 200+ industry leaders raised over $2 million to help families exit homelessness. Jill is on the Wonder Women team (captains Leslie Cohen (Samuels) & Kristin Blount (Colliers)), which raised the 2nd highest amount for the campaign.
Jill resides in Sudbury, Massachusetts with her husband and twin daughters. In her spare time, she enjoys golf, tennis and pickleball!
