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Wells Fargo is creating a position to lead its retail mortgage lending efforts and choosing one of its own to fill the position.
The bank announced Thursday that it is naming Perry Hilzendeger as the company’s head of home lending retail, a newly created role.
As head of home lending retails, Hilzendeger will oversee approximately 15,000 retail production team members in mortgage and home equity sales, underwriting, fulfillment, and support functions.
In the role, Hilzendeger will report to Michael DeVito, who was named head of home lending in January.
DeVito previously served as head of mortgage production at the bank, before being named interim head of consumer lending and interim head of home lending when Franklin Codel was fired in 2017 for inappropriately communicating with a former Wells Fargo employee..
DeVito took over as head of mortgage production at Wells Fargo in 2015, after previously leading the bank’s mortgage servicing operation. Hilzendeger, who’s spent 28 years with Wells Fargo, took DeVito’s place as the bank’s head of mortgage servicing at that time.
In that role, Hilzendeger oversaw nearly 13,000 team members who service mortgages and home equity products for more than 9 million customers and more than $1.2 trillion in loans for investors.
Earlier in his Wells Fargo career, Hilzendeger was head of default servicing. Hilzendeger also held other key roles including leadership positions in fulfillment and nearly 15 years in sales and sales management.
Now, Hilzendeger will lead Wells Fargo’s retail lending operation.
“Perry’s broad experience and knowledge of our business is unmatched, and he has a deep understanding of the customer experience at every stage of the homeownership journey,” DeVito said. “I am confident that his energy and experience will help us meet the evolving needs of our customers and clients.”
Hilzendeger will officially assume the role on April 16.
According to the bank, Gui Kahl, who is currently senior vice president for servicing change delivery, will head the bank’s servicing operations on an interim basis until the bank finds a permanent replacement for Hilzendeger.
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