Exactly one week after Ellie Mae was officially acquired by Intercontinental Exchange, Ellie Mae president and CEO Jonathan Corr announced his retirement on Friday, and announced that the company’s chief operating officer, Joe Tyrrell, would succeed him as president of ICE.
Though his retirement is effective immediately, Corr said he will be supporting Tyrrell in an advisory role through the end of the first quarter.
“While my personal chapter with Ellie Mae comes to an end, the story of Ellie Mae continues. As we turn the page, there are big opportunities ahead, with an entire industry looking to us to automate everything automatable,” Corr said.
Corr and Tyrrell both joined Ellie Mae in 2002, and coincidentally, both in positions that emphasized strategy – Corr beginning as chief strategy officer and Tyrrell as vice president of strategic relationships.
In 2005, Tyrrell temporarily left the company to work as an independent executive consultant, ultimately returning to Ellie Mae in 2010 as a senior vice president. In 2019, Tyrrell became chief operating officer and was awarded membership within the Forbes Business Development Council the same year.
Ellie Mae has long aspired to provide a fully digital mortgage, and to that end has acquired a number of companies that specialize in automation, including Velocify, Capsilon, Mortgage Returns and AllRegs.
“To realize the potential of the digital mortgage and the value it can deliver to lenders and borrowers alike, we need to expand our vision of the digital mortgage to encompass all phases of the origination lifecycle, with each milestone informing the next,” Tyrrell said in 2017.
In August, Ellie Mae announced it had entered a definitive agreement to be acquired by Intercontinental Exchange for approximately $11 billion – nearly 15 months after Thoma Bravo acquired it.
Prior to its latest acquisition, ICE acquired a majority equity position in MERSCORP Holdings, the owner of Mortgage Electronic Registration System in 2016, and purchased the remaining stake two years later. ICE also acquired Simplifile in 2019.
According to Corr, the strategic partnership with Simplifile and MERS created the holy trinity for end-to-end eClosing solutions – with Ellie Mae, Simplifile and MERS now reporting to Tyrrell.
“I have passed the baton to Joe, and now I can move on knowing that you are in excellent hands. With Joe leading the organization, and with the addition of MERS and Simplifile, as well as the support of ICE, we will absolutely achieve our North Star of automation,” Corr said.
