New EVP Leading Direct Lending Production at loanDepot

Mortgage sales leader Chad Smith has joined loanDepot, taking charge as EVP of production in direct lending, the company announced.

A 15-year veteran of the mortgage game, Smith is responsible for leading loanDepot's sales production team of more than 600 licensed loan officers working under the company's brand from four national Web business centers in Arizona, California, Texas, and Tennessee.

"I'm thrilled to join loanDepot. The company's growth and sales performance has been incredible in just five years. I'm looking forward to continuing to grow the production team and building upon the company's success," Smith said about his new position. "I am excited to work with loanDepot's leadership team and the organization in supporting its growth and profitability objectives by further increasing the level of performance of the production sales teams nationwide."

Throughout his career, Smith has played various key roles in building production teams and driving revenue growth for national, publically traded consumer-direct lending firms. Most recently, he was SVP of production at Discover Home Loans, where he oversaw all mortgage production and was credited with building out the company's business.

Prior to that, he was SVP of production at LendingTree Loans, where he led sales and processing teams across six states in generating more than $4 billion in annual funding. His time at LendingTree also saw him serving as VP and director of home equity.

"Chad's vast knowledge and experience in consumer-direct lending combined with his energy and passion will be a tremendous asset to loanDepot as we continue to build our volume to exceed a five percent refinance market share in the next decade," said David Norris, president and COO at loanDepot, LLC. "I have the utmost confidence he'll be an exceptional leader for our direct lending business.  We're very excited to welcome Chad to loanDepot as we prepare for our next phase of growth."