Marlene Light, VP of lending support at United Wholesale Mortgage, marshals 10 teams consisting of almost 250 people and ensures smooth sailing for the underwriting process.

She and her team fly under the radar, but their work is key to UWM’s success. Under her leadership, the lending support team has nearly quadrupled in size over the last 2.5 years.

At a time when the company is reaching record-setting loan volume, Lending Support is setting the tone. In May 2018, UWM surpassed 1,000 loan submissions in a single day for the first time in its history with 1,160 submissions. Light’s team submitted each loan with unyielding efficiency.

Light’s secret sauce has been a philosophy of divide and conquer, splitting her department into different groups by specialty. One of these teams is the “SWAT”, or specialists with advanced training, team. This squad gets called in to put out complicated fires and help distribute expert knowledge across the department. It has been so successful that other departments have emulated it and created their own SWAT teams.

“Marlene Light is a seasoned mortgage professional, having been in the industry for 14 years. She is the ultimate insider.”