Terry Schmidt, President

Terry Schmidt started at Guild Mortgage in 1985 and has been a member of the company’s board of directors since 2006. As president, Ms. Schmidt oversees Guild’s finance, human resources, capital markets and compliance departments. She led efforts to establish the Guild Giving Foundation, designed to encourage volunteerism among Guild’s nearly 4,000 employees.

Ms. Schmidt has helped the company grow to become one of the nation’s largest and most-respected independent mortgage lenders. She increased and improved access to financing during a record-breaking growth period in Guild’s nearly 60-year history and has helped increase Guild’s national market share every year since the leadership team launched the company’s long-term, strategic growth plan in 2008.

She started her career at Guild in internal audit, performing branch audits and various compliance audits related to servicing, secondary marketing and loan origination. She rose rapidly into new roles because of a versatility and expertise that extended beyond the financial aspects of the business to product development, advertising and systems design. She held the positions of executive vice president, chief financial officer and chief operating officer before being promoted to president in early 2020.

Ms. Schmidt consistently holds leadership roles on local, regional and national boards, and contributes to efforts to increase the professional standards within the mortgage industry. She is chair of the Mortgage Bankers Association financial management committee, and a member of the board of governors for the California Mortgage Bankers Association. Ms. Schmidt earned a B.B.A. in accounting from the University of San Diego in 1984 and holds certified public accountant (CPA), certified financial professional (CFP) and Certified Mortgage Banker (CMB) designations.