loanDepot Leadership

As president, CEO and a member of loanDepot’s board of directors, Frank Martell is responsible for setting strategic direction for the company and overseeing the operations of its multi-channel origination model, which includes direct lending, in-market retail, and joint ventures, as well as the company’s servicing and mortgage-adjacent services such as mellohome, melloinsurance and mellotitle. He is known for delivering scaled market leadership and consistent growth in revenues and profitability that result in significant stakeholder value creation.

With more than 30 years of executive leadership experience, Frank keenly understands the real estate market, along with the power of data, and brings a digital-first mindset to deliver superior service for our customers.

Prior to joining loanDepot, Frank spent more than a decade in leadership roles of increasing responsibility at CoreLogic, where he cemented the company’s reputation as the gold standard for real estate data, intelligence, and analytics. Having joined CoreLogic as its chief financial officer and chief operating officer, he went on to assume the position of CEO and member of the board in early 2017. During his tenure, Frank was instrumental in transforming CoreLogic into a global leader in residential property data, analytics, and digital platforms with a corresponding 10X increase in market capitalization.

Before joining CoreLogic, Frank held a variety of senior positions in the marketing, financial services, and business information sectors. He spent the first 15 years of his career at General Electric and subsequently held leadership roles including chief operating officer at Nielsen Corporation (formerly AC Nielsen) and CEO of the Western Institutional Review Board.

In 2016, he received HousingWire’s Vanguard Award in recognition of his distinguished leadership in the housing industry. He also served on the boards of the Mortgage Bankers Association and the Harvard Joint Centers for Housing Studies. Frank has been regularly recognized as one of the region’s 500 most influential leaders by the Orange County Business Journal and was deemed an industry “Power Player” by Inman News in 2023.

A passionate supporter of building strong communities, Frank serves on the boards of the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation, the largest and oldest group supporting the sons and daughters of active and prior service Marines, and Operation HOPE, a provider of financial literacy and empowerment for young people and minority communities. He also serves on the board of Compass, Inc., a technology-enabled residential real estate brokerage.

As president of LDI Mortgage, Jeff Walsh is responsible for top-line mortgage revenue across the enterprise, including the company’s direct to consumer, in-market and joint venture channels. A seasoned executive with more than 30 years’ experience in mortgage originations, Jeff has helped his teams successfully navigate a variety of economic cycles.

Since joining loanDepot in 2012, Jeff has played a pivotal role in virtually every milestone in the company’s history—including expanding its footprint from a thriving direct-to-consumer lender to becoming a multi-faceted, nationally recognized nonbank mortgage lender. Prior to joining loanDepot, Jeff held leadership roles with Ameriquest Mortgage and Town and Country Credit.

Jeff attended West Valley College in Saratoga, CA and Evergreen Valley College in San Jose, CA, as well as executive development programs at the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School and the Colorado Springs Center for Creative Leadership.

As managing director of operations and servicing, Dan Binowitz is responsible for all pre-funding and post-funding operations including processing, underwriting, closing, post-closing and servicing. In this position, Dan is focused on cultivating life-long relationships with our customers and ensuring an exceptional experience from the time of origination throughout the life of the loan.

Dan joined loanDepot in 2011, lending his 30 years of mortgage lending and financial services experience to strengthening agency and investor relationships while leading loan trading, hedging, servicing, and post-close efforts. Dan assumed leadership of loanDepot’s servicing unit in 2015, stewarding the successful transition from an outsourced, third-party subservicing model to a fully in-house function.

Before joining loanDepot, Dan held a variety of leadership positions in the financial services industry, including Freemont Investment and Loans, LH Capital Management and PMAC Mortgage Services. At PMAC, Dan worked to negotiate the sale of the company and subsequently facilitated the transition of the business to the new owners and management team.

Dan is a graduate of the University of Michigan, where he earned his Bachelor of Arts in Economics. He also serves on the MERS Advisory Council and previously served on the Secondary Marketing Advisory Councils for Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.

As chief information officer, George Brady is the company’s top technology executive and oversees all of loanDepot’s technology capabilities, including its groundbreaking proprietary platform, mello®.

With a special talent for spearheading technological innovation, George continues to cultivate a culture of technical excellence as he and his team expand the company’s capacity to meet and exceed customer expectations. Under George’s leadership, loanDepot continues to advance in its ongoing quest to change the game for customers and originators and transform mortgage lending.

George brings nearly 35 years of technology and innovation leadership across a variety of financial services firms, most recently serving as chief technology officer at Capital One. There he led a comprehensive digital transformation of that company’s software and risk management capabilities. Prior to that, George held technology leadership roles at Fidelity Investments, Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, and Morgan Stanley.

George earned his Bachelor of Science in Computer Science at Stony Brook University.

As chief investment officer and head economist, Jeff DerGurahian leads the company’s secondary and capital markets efforts and delivers data-driven insights at the crossroads of the US economy and mortgage and housing markets. Through extensive research, DerGurahian and his team analyze the factors facing today’s unprecedented markets, forecasting mortgage origination and macroeconomic trends to shape loanDepot’s business strategy. Among his responsibilities are investor relations, loan trading, hedging, pricing strategies and product development.

Jeff joined loanDepot in 2012, shortly after the company was founded. Over the course of the last decade, Jeff has served as a valued advisor and supported the company by enhancing and expanding loan sale execution channels and financing facilities, including establishing three de novo sponsors for private label securitizations. He has also overseen the growth of the mortgage servicing rights portfolio and in-house servicing platform.

Before joining loanDepot, Jeff served as executive vice president, capital markets for Prospect Mortgage, LLC (formerly MetroCities Mortgage). Prior to that, he worked as a hedge manager at Tuttle Risk Management Services.

Jeff graduated from the University of Virginia with a Bachelor of Science in Finance.

As chief administrative officer, TJ Freeborn oversees the company’s brand, digital and organic marketing, corporate communications and PR, facilities and corporate real estate, corporate giving, enterprise project management, customer care, and meetings and events teams.

She brings nearly 30 years of financial services experience, including nearly 15 years in the home lending industry, to her role. Utilizing her deep and varied background, TJ frequently leads cross-functional strategic initiatives and serves as a critical partner to the entire executive team. In 2021 she led the development of loanDepot’s national sports marketing strategy, cementing partnerships with Major League Baseball and the Miami Marlins, as well as spearheading loanDepot's nationally recognized Home Means Everything campaign.

Before joining loanDepot, TJ held various leadership positions at Discover Financial Services, where she led home equity loan operations and servicing. In previous roles at Discover, she was a leader of marketing acquisition, customer experience and creative development for Discover’s mortgage products. Prior to Discover, she served as vice president, marketing at Wells Fargo Home Mortgage. In this role, TJ was responsible for branding and creative development for Wells Fargo's mortgage salesforce and was a key partner on cross-functional regulatory and strategic initiatives such as the SAFE Act implementation and multi-channel marketing-on-demand platform launches.

TJ is a graduate of Grand View College in Des Moines, Iowa, where she was an inaugural member of the college’s Logos Honors Program. A passionate supporter of veterans’ issues, TJ has been an active volunteer with the War Heroes on Water sportfishing tournament since its inception in 2018.

As chief accounting officer, Darren Graeler is responsible for managing the company’s financial and accounting operations, SEC financial reporting, and tax.

Darren previously served as the Company’s Senior Vice President, Corporate Accounting from July 2018. Before joining loanDepot, between 2007 and 2018, he was a founding partner of Financial Services Advisory Partners, LLC, a business advisory and management consulting firm to the financial services industry.

Prior to Financial Services Advisory Partners, LLC, he served in various senior accounting and finance leadership roles at companies in mortgage banking, commercial banks, and specialty finance. Darren started his career in the assurance practice at KPMG, LLP, an accounting firm, where he specialized in audits of public and non-public banks, mortgage lenders, and finance companies.

Darren earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Accountancy from California State University, Long Beach. He is a licensed Certified Public Accountant (inactive) in the state of California.

As chief human resources officer, Melanie Graper leads all aspects of the company’s human capital function and drives critical organizational aspects of loanDepot’s Vision 2025 plan. With over 30 years of HR leadership experience, including extensive work on a global scale, Melanie’s passion is driving cultural and organizational transformation through impactful, outcome-based strategies.

Prior to loanDepot, Melanie spent thirteen years in senior HR leadership roles at CoreLogic, joining as senior vice president of HR and ultimately assuming the position of chief human resources officer. During her tenure, she deployed a human capital strategy to support change, build organizational capability, and evolve to a more inclusive, empowered, and community-focused culture that achieved recognition as a Great Place to Work. Before joining CoreLogic, Melanie held senior leadership positions at the Irvine Company, J. Walter Thompson Worldwide, Mattel, and Glaxo SmithKline.

Melanie graduated from the University of Southern California with a Bachelor of Science in Public Administration. She serves on the board of the American Heart Association, Western Region, and more recently served as chair of the “OC Go Red for Women” campaign.

As chief risk officer Joe Grassi is responsible for loanDepot’s enterprise risk management program. A proven senior leader known for delivering exceptional results, Joe’s expansive expertise within the real estate and financial services industries and substantial regulatory experience helps ensure the company delivers on its commitment to superior customer service.

His responsibilities include the overall direction and strategy of the company’s risk management program, including the design and implementation of both enterprise- and loan-level governance policies and procedures. Additionally, Joe provides strategic counsel on the management of potential risks to help reduce the frequency and severity of operational issues and losses, in addition to positioning the company for continued growth.

Joe brings more than 35 years' experience in real estate finance and consumer lending compliance and law to the role, which includes leadership positions within such companies and government agencies as Celebrity Home Loans, the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, Guaranteed Rate, and Prospect Mortgage. He also spent time at Freddie Mac.

Notably, Joe spent 20 years as a senior attorney for Fannie Mae, including as the lead counsel for the multifamily and single family businesses. He ultimately served as the interim general counsel and corporate secretary for Fannie Mae, where he was responsible for overseeing Fannie Mae’s legal and government and industry relations departments and providing strategic counsel to the CEO and Board.

Joe began his career at Philadelphia-based law firm Obermayer, Rebmann, Maxwell & Hippel and holds both a Juris Doctorate and Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Villanova University.

As chief financial officer, David Hayes is responsible for managing all of loanDepot’s financial actions, including its accounting, treasury, tax, corporate finance and investor and lender relations activities.

David joined loanDepot from CoreLogic, Inc. where he served in senior finance roles for 13 years. Most recently he was Executive, Finance and Treasurer where he oversaw the financial management of CoreLogic’s business operations including budgeting and forecasting, strategic planning, M&A, pricing, and capital expenditures. He also managed global enterprise liquidity, cash flow forecasting, investments, debt and capital markets, hedging, banking relationships, and corporate insurance.

Prior to that, he held various senior leadership positions across finance, treasury, and interest rate risk management at Prospect Mortgage, LLC, and Indymac F.S.B. (NYSE: IMB). He has served as a director on the boards of ComplianceEase and Symbility (TSX: SY.V).

David received a bachelor’s degree in finance from Santa Clara University and an MBA from the University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business.

As chief legal officer and corporate secretary, Gregg Smallwood oversees all aspects of loanDepot’s legal strategy and operations as well as various enterprise, shareholder and corporate governance matters, playing a key role in ensuring the company continues to provide exceptional service to its customers, employees and investors.

Gregg has represented major financial services institutions across all aspects of compliance with state and federal law, corporate transactional matters, regulatory enforcement and class action litigation for the majority of his legal career. His areas of expertise include developing and implementing legal initiatives, managing and reducing risk, executing strategic plans and achieving revenue performance targets.

Prior to joining loanDepot, Gregg served as general counsel and executive vice president for Caliber Home Loans. He’s also held senior roles at Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, Saxon Mortgage, GMAC ResCap and Chase Manhattan Mortgage Corporation. He started his career as an attorney at L’Oréal Cosmetics Corporation.

Gregory holds a Juris Doctorate from Seton Hall University School of Law and Bachelor of Arts from the University of Maryland.