Truist taps David Smith to lead mortgage lending

Truist Financial is promoting David Smith to head up its mortgage business, replacing Todd Chamberlain who will be retiring effective July 31.

Smith joined the Charlotte, North Carolina bank as deputy head of mortgage in January, following a near two-year stint as the president of Keller Home Financial Service, an affiliate of real estate franchisor Keller Williams, according to his LinkedIn profile.

For over 13 years, Smith worked at Citi, and spent the last two as head of its U.S. mortgage division. He also has experience with servicing, not just at Citi (including as head of default specialty servicing), but also with prior positions at Aurora Loan Services and Select Portfolio Servicing.

Hand-out/Truist Financial Corporation

In his new role, Smith will report to Truist Chief Retail and Small Business Banking Officer Dontá Wilson and lead all areas of mortgage, including originations, fulfillment, warehouse lending and servicing.

Smith is taking the top slot after company CEO Bill Rogers said on Truist's first quarter earnings call that further cutbacks in the mortgage business were possible.

"David's experience and accomplishments as a leader in the mortgage industry position Truist to reimagine the future of Truist Mortgage for our clients," Wilson said in a press release. "As we mark David's installment as leader, I want to also express my gratitude for Todd Chamberlain's leadership to help make the American dream of homeownership come true for millions of clients — truly building better lives and communities."

Chamberlain joined SunTrust in February 2018 as executive vice president, head of mortgage banking, moving to head of consumer lending solutions in January 2019.

Later that year, SunTrust agreed to merge with BB&T and following the completion of the deal was rebranded as Truist. Chamberlain stayed on board as EVP, head of mortgage banking.

Before joining SunTrust, and between two stints at Regions Bank, Chamberlain had replaced Sy Naqvi as the CEO of PNC Mortgage.