Gregory Smallwood

About Gregory Smallwood

Gregory Smallwood is Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary at loanDepot (LDI), serving since 2022; he is 58 years old, with a J.D. from Seton Hall University School of Law and a B.A. from the University of Maryland . His remit spans legal strategy, enterprise governance, shareholder matters, and corporate secretariat functions . During his tenure, LDI delivered notable progress: Q4 2023 revenues grew 35% year-over-year, total 2023 expenses fell 36%, and adjusted net loss declined 69% versus 2022, alongside strategic repositioning under Vision 2025 . Pay-versus-performance disclosures show three-year TSR progression (value of initial $100 investment) of $35.06 (2022), $74.79 (2023), and $43.34 (2024), with net losses improving year-over-year, framing the performance context for executive incentive alignment .

Past Roles

External Roles

• No public company board memberships or external roles disclosed specific to Smallwood in LDI’s proxy/filings. Skip.

Fixed Compensation

• LDI’s 2025 and 2024 proxy statements list named executive officers (NEOs) for detailed compensation, and Smallwood is not included; therefore base salary, target bonus, and cash compensation specifics are not disclosed for him .

Performance Compensation

• Smallwood’s equity awards (RSUs/PSUs/options), performance metrics, targets, weightings, and vesting schedules are not itemized for him in the proxy. LDI’s 2024–2025 approach for NEOs (50% RSUs / 50% PSUs, with profitability and customer satisfaction goals and multi-year vesting) indicates the company’s incentive design philosophy, but it is not attributable to Smallwood absent disclosure .

Equity Ownership & Alignment

• Specific beneficial ownership for Smallwood is not itemized in the stock ownership tables; LDI aggregates “other executive officers” in totals and conversion rights footnotes (e.g., RSUs vestable within 60 days and Class C conversion rights), but does not break out Smallwood’s holdings .
• Alignment policies:
  • Anti-hedging/anti-pledging: Directors, executives, and employees are prohibited from hedging loanDepot stock, holding shares in margin accounts, or pledging as loan collateral .
  • Clawback: NYSE Rule 10D-1-compliant recoupment of excess incentive compensation over the prior three full fiscal years upon restatement; SOX 304 reimbursement for CEO/CFO upon misconduct-linked restatement .

Employment Terms

• No public employment agreement for Smallwood is disclosed. By contrast, LDI details severance/change-in-control terms for CEO Martell and CFO Hayes, underscoring standardized severance, bonus proration, COBRA reimbursement, and equity acceleration frameworks for NEOs, but these do not extend to Smallwood on the record .

Company Performance Context

• Strategic execution highlights (during Smallwood’s tenure):
  • Q4 2023 revenue +35% YoY; pivot to purchase money originations and servicing growth under Vision 2025 .
  • 2023 expenses −36%; adjusted net loss −69%; ongoing cost/productivity programs and margin expansion initiatives .

Governance and Compensation Oversight

• Controlled company: Hsieh Stockholders control >50% voting power; LDI relies on NYSE controlled-company exemptions (compensation and nominating committees may include non-independent members; audit committee remains fully independent) .
• Compensation Committee: Chaired by Dawn Lepore; currently all members are independent (Lepore, Ozonian, and John Lee effective April 2, 2025), advised by Semler Brossy on market practices and program design .
• Say-on-Pay: 98.7% approval of 2023 executive compensation indicates broad shareholder support for pay design .

Vesting Schedules and Insider Selling Pressure

• Near-term vesting disclosures are provided for NEOs (e.g., RSUs vesting on April 15, 2025/2026/2027; PSUs with certification tied to Q3 2024 profitability vesting in April 2025 and April 2026), but Smallwood’s individual vesting schedule is not disclosed .
• Anti-hedging/pledging policy mitigates selling pressure risk via prohibition of pledge-related forced sales; insider trading adherence is overseen by corporate policy .

Compensation Structure vs Performance Metrics (LDI Policy Signals)

• NEO equity mix shifted to RSUs/PSUs with performance gates linked to profitability and customer satisfaction and multi-year service-based vesting to promote sustainability; AU company programs emphasize pay-for-performance alignment and stockholder outcomes across senior leadership .
• 2025 plan share pool increase (+15,000,000 Class A shares) under the 2021 Omnibus Plan (Amended) suggests ongoing use of equity incentives across executives, which may include legal leadership, subject to Compensation Committee actions .

Investment Implications

• Disclosure limits: Smallwood is not a named executive officer, so his specific pay, equity grants, vesting schedules, severance, and change-in-control terms are not publicly detailed—reducing precision for pay-for-performance, retention risk, and transactional signal analysis at the individual level .
• Alignment safeguards: Anti-hedging/pledging and clawback policies, combined with robust committee oversight and high say-on-pay support, indicate governance structures that temper misalignment risks even where individual disclosures are sparse .
• Company-level signals: Performance improvements (expense reductions, margin expansion, and Q4 2023 profitability milestone leading to PSU certification) underpin incentive realizations at the senior team level; equity plan expansion points to continued equity-based compensation across executives, potentially including legal leadership, subject to committee grants .

Net: Smallwood’s compensation levers and retention economics are not individually disclosed; investors should monitor future proxies and Form 4 filings for grant/ownership details, while relying on company-wide policies and performance trend disclosures for alignment and risk assessment .