Rocket Cos. CIO Brian Woodring departs

Rocket Cos. Chief Information Officer Brian Woodring is leaving the No. 2 mortgage lender to pursue other opportunities, a company spokesperson confirmed.

"He has been an integral part of the senior leadership team — contributing to our technology, innovation and the growth of our [artificial intelligence] systems," the spokesperson said in a statement. "Rocket is well into its search for the next world-class technology leader to continue the momentum of AI-fueled homeownership."

Woodring's departure was first reported by HousingWire.

"Brian will be missed, and we wish him well in the next chapter of his career," the Rocket spokesperson said.

Woodring joined Rocket in November 2017 as its chief technology officer, his LinkedIn profile stated. As CIO, he was responsible for leading Rocket Technology, it continued.

His last day at Rocket is April 19, he said in a message.

"Rocket is a wonderful company with the best team in the industry," Woodring added. "The work we have done with technology and AI will change the homeownership forever, and I am extremely optimistic about Rocket's future."

In November, Woodring spoke with National Mortgage News about Rocket's testing of an AI chat interface in the Pathfinder search engine used by loan officers, mortgage brokers and underwriters to deal with questions that come up during the origination process.

Earlier this week, the company unveiled Rocket Logic, an AI initiative it plans to keep building out this year, which uses machine learning to pull important information from borrower documents during the underwriting process.

Before joining Rocket, Woodring was CIO at Albertelli Law Firm and a managing partner at The Phoenix Team consulting firm.

In 2005, he joined Lender Processing Services, which was spun off from a Fidelity National Financial-related company in 2008. In 2012 he moved to another FNF-related company, ServiceLink, which in turn, along with a reacquired LPS, was placed into the then newly created Black Knight Financial Services in 2014, where Woodring stayed until June 2015.

The change in Rocket's executive suite is happening as the conflict with United Wholesale Mortgage is ratcheting up following a controversial article from Hunterbrook Media, whose affiliate is long on Rocket's stock and short on UWM's.