Wells Fargo appoints home lending servicing head

Jeff Smith succeeds Perry Hilzendeger in the role

By Francis Monfort

30 Jul 2018

Wells Fargo has appointed Jeff Smith as head of home lending servicing to replace Perry Hilzendger.

Smith is currently responsible for servicing and customer excellence risk in the company’s consumer lending real estate compliance and operational risk (RECOR) group. Hilzendeger was named in March to run the company’s home lending retail originations.

Smith brings more than 30 years of experience to the role, including financial services in businesses such as credit cards, personal loans, home equity, and home mortgages. Prior to his RECOR role, Smith oversaw collections and customer contact for Wells Fargo Home Lending. He served in the home mortgage and home equity servicing units of Wells Fargo for nearly 10 years.

Earlier in his career, Smith served as JP Morgan Chase where he started as a collections associate in 1987 and rising to vice presidents and operations manager. He moved to Wells Fargo in 1997.

“Our servicing team plays a critical role in helping our customers through their homeownership journey, and Jeff is uniquely qualified to build on the momentum and solid foundation that is already in place,” said Michael DeVito, head of Wells Fargo Home Lending. “He has a proven track record of leading high-performing teams, hands-on experience managing large customer-support organizations, and strong relationships across Wells Fargo and our industry. These strengths, combined with his deep operations and risk management experience, will help us continue to evolve our business with the customer at the center of every interaction.”