Rocket names Heather Lovier as chief operating officer

Heather Lovier replaced Bill Emerson as chief operating officer of Rocket Companies following the appointment of the board of directors on June 20. Emerson will remain as Rocket’s president. 

An industry veteran, Lovier joined Rocket Mortgage, the company’s lending arm, in 2003. She has focused the past two decades on driving operational excellence and enhancing client experience, the company stated. Her previous position was chief client experience officer. 

“Lovier’s compensation for her new appointment will be determined at a later date,” Rocket said in an 8-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). 

It’s the latest top executive change as Rocket pursues its mission of developing a homeownership journey powered by artificial intelligence (AI) under Varun Krishna’s leadership. 

In May, Rocket announced Shawn Malhotra, a former Thomson Reuters and Intel executive, as the company’s first chief technology officer. In January, it hired Jonathan Mildenhall, a former Airbnb and Coca-Cola executive, to a newly created chief marketing officer position. Additionally, fintech expert Alastair (Alex) Rampell, who co-founded several fintech firms, including Affirm, joined Rocket’s board of directors. 

Last year, Jay Farner and Bob Walters announced their retirements from the company. 

Rocket executives are optimistic that their investments in AI will enhance profitability. According to filings with the SEC, Rocket reported a GAAP net profit of $291 million in first-quarter 2024, following a loss of $233 million in Q4 2023. 

This week, the company announced a partnership with Instabase, an AI company that specializes in unstructured data. Instabase will help extract unstructured data in loan documents and allow for further lending process automation. The goal is to close loans faster.