Despite playing a prominent role at the unveiling of the loanDepot’s new $100 million facility less than three weeks ago, Chad Smith is now out as loanDepot’s head of direct lending.
The reason for Smith’s departure is unknown as are the company’s plans to replace him. When asked about Smith’s departure by HousingWire, the company simply confirmed that Smith is no longer with the company.
Whatever the reason, it’s a bit of surprise to see Smith leave loanDepot.
When the company rolled out its new mello “Innovation Lab” in March, Smith was right by CEO Anthony Hsieh’s side on the main stage (as seen in the YouTube video below), discussing the work that went into developing the new headquarters for mello, loanDepot’s ambitious plan to disrupt the home buying process and position the lender as a firm that can manage the entire real estate transaction.
Smith led the direct division for the last nine months, having been promoted by Hsieh himself back in July 2017. The moment Smith was named president of direct lending was captured on video and posted to loanDepot’s Facebook page.
In the video, Hsieh praises Smith and says the two have known each other for 15 years.
Smith came to loanDepot in 2015 as executive vice president of production, direct lending.
At the time, the company said that Smith would be leading a sales production team of more than 600 licensed loan officers under the loanDepot.com brand from the company’s four national web business centers in Arizona, California, Texas, and Tennessee.
While serving as EVP of production, direct lending, Smith was named one of HousingWire Magazine’s Vanguard Award winners in 2016, an award reserved for the true leaders in the housing industry.
Smith came to loanDepot from Discover Home Loans, which was shuttered back in 2015.
At Discover Home Loans, Smith oversaw all mortgage production. Earlier in his career, Smith was the senior vice president of production at LendingTree Loans, after previously serving as both a vice president and director of home equity.
As president of direct lending at loanDepot, Smith led a team of more than 1,000 employees, according to Smith’s now-deleted company bio, which was accessed via a Google-cached version.
When one tries to access Smith’s bio now, a “404” error page appears instead.
