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Rocket Mortgage has tapped mortgage technology veteran Dan Sogorka to help the company win more business from mortgage brokers by leveraging Rocket’s data, technology and AI capabilities.
Sagorka — who just handed over the CEO reins at Sagent to Geno Paluso in February — was named general manager of Rocket’s wholesale lending division, Rocket Pro TPO, Tuesday.
Dan Sogorka
It’s a newly created role at Rocket Pro TPO, with Sagorka tasked with ensuring that “the lender’s products and processes align best with the needs of the mortgage broker community,” and using Rocket’s “significant AI technologies and platform to push well beyond the tools currently available to this important market segment,” the company said.
In reporting a $178 million second-quarter profit on Aug. 1, Rocket said mortgage originations were up 10 percent from a year ago, to $24.7 billion. While Rocket originated more than half (53 percent) of those mortgages directly with consumers, it depended on its partner network for the remaining 47 percent of Q2 originations — up from 44 percent in Q2 2023.
Heather Lovier
“Mortgage brokers play a critical role in the homebuying process and are a vital part of helping millions of clients reach their dreams,” Rocket Companies COO Heather Lovier said in a statement. “There has not been truly significant evolution in this space for decades.”
Sogorka, she said, “comes to Rocket with a proven track record of success with both large tech companies and scrappy start-ups, paired with an appetite to revolutionize the broker space by leveraging Rocket’s quickly expanding data, technology and AI capabilities.”
At Sagent, Sogorka was credited with helping modernize the company’s technology and fostering “strong relationships with many large mortgage servicers, gaining an in-depth view of the home loan process from origination through servicing,” Rocket said.
Before Sagent, Sogorka was CEO of digital mortgage point-of-sale system Cloudvirga and a business unit president at mortgage tech provider Black Knight.
“I’ve spent decades leveraging technology to simplify the complex home financing process. Now, I’m eager to tap into that skillset to bring the broker community into the future,” Sogorka said in a statement. “With mortgage brokers being such a large part of the market, my role will be to supercharge brokers to educate, engage and help their clients be successful homebuyers and owners.”
Rocket says AI has been a key to growing the company’s market share and profit margins, and that investment in technology will help it scale up when mortgage lending rebounds — without going on a hiring binge.
“By leveraging generative AI, we can deliver great client experiences at scale by handling more interactions and keeping more clients engaged,” Rocket Companies CEO Varun Krishna said on the company’s Aug. 1 earnings call.
Rocket Companies is the parent company of Rocket Mortgage, Rocket Homes, Amrock Title and Settlement Services, Rocket Money and Rocket Loans.
After taking over as Rocket Companies’ CEO last year, Krishna has brought in several new executives including AI innovator Shawn Malhotra, who was named Rocket’s first chief technology officer in March, and Airbnb veteran Jonathan Mildenhall, the group’s first chief marketing officer.
Lovier, who has held a number of roles in more than 20 years with Rocket Mortgage, was appointed Rocket Companies chief operating officer on June 24. She replaced Bill Emerson, who continues as president.
Lovier will earn a base salary of $600,000 a year and be eligible for an equal amount in bonuses, the company disclosed Aug. 30. Lovier was also granted 60,153 restricted shares in Rocket which will vest over three years. At Tuesday’s closing price of $19.62, those shares would be valued at nearly $1.2 million if not restricted.
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