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Special Reports
Nonprime Lending
Brandt Out as CEO of WMC Mortgage
Bossard will be named as her replacement.
By Paul Muolo
Amy Brandt, CEO of nonconforming loan giant WMC Mortgage, will leave the General
Electric-owned company by year-end, industry officials confirmed to Origination News.
Last month Ms. Brandt could not be reached for comment, but Todd Wallace, chief operating officer for WMC, said
she is leaving the company and will not be on board come January.
WMC will promote Laurent Bossard, a 10-year veteran of GE, to replace Ms. Brandt. Mr. Bossard currently serves
as president of the lender.
Ms. Brandt, considered one of the most successful woman executives in the industry, managed WMC through some of
the subprime sector's best years.
One competitor who is familiar with Ms. Brandt said her contract with the lender expires at year-end, adding that
there is talk that she will relocate to the East Coast to start a new company.
Mr. Wallace said he is unaware of her future plans.
Among subprime funders, WMC ranks ninth. Based here, it is the fourth largest subprime wholesaler in the U.S.,
according to figures compiled by Origination News and the Quarterly Data Report.
GE, which exited the "A" paper business in 2000, bought WMC in 2004 for an undisclosed sum. (WMC was
then ranked 12th among subprime funders.)
A lawyer by training, Ms. Brandt joined WMC in 1997 as an account executive and was quickly promoted to running
a branch in Arizona. In 2000, she became EVP of production. She is credited with being a chief architect of WMC's
use of technology and starting its "WMC Direct" brand.
Prior to the purchase by GE, WMC was owned by Apollo Management LP, New York, a group headed by famed bargain hunter
Leon Black. Mr. Black bought WMC back in 1997 when it was called Weyerhaeuser Mortgage and funding mostly conventional
loans.
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