Empowering lenders and leaders: Leah Sommerville’s mission to digitize and inspire at DocMagic

HousingWire

Transformation is more than a buzzword for Leah Sommerville — it’s her career story. As Director of Sales at DocMagic, she has not only helped lenders digitize their workflows but also empowered teams to grow alongside industry changes.   In this episode of Ten Minute Talks, Allison LaForgia talks with Leah about the strategies behind DocMagic’s massive eClosing success, her commitment to mentorship, and the leadership principles that keep her, and her team ahead of the curve.

Transcript

00:00I'm Alison LaForgia, Managing Editor of HousingWire's Content Studio and today I'm with Leah

00:10Summerville for today's episode of 10 Minute Talks. Yes, thank you Alison. I'm so excited to be here.

00:16I'm so excited to have you and first I want to congratulate you on your recent award for being

00:21named a HousingWire rising star. Congratulations. Thank you so much Alison. I'm really excited.

00:26It is very well deserved and I want to start with a little backstory into your industry. So

00:32you are now the Director of Sales at DocMagic but let's start with what got you into the mortgage

00:38industry. Yes, I've always had a passion for business and so when I graduated college I walked

00:43into this industry like a wide-eyed little dove. I had no idea what to expect and it has not stopped

00:49surprising me since the beginning. I will admit I'm a millennial so I expect to use technology in

00:55every aspect of my life and so it's really was eye-opening to enter the mortgage industry and

01:01realize that there were a lot of paper and outdated processes and so it's really been kind of a natural

01:06one foot in front of the other as we make change with that. Now you joined DocMagic in 2019 and since

01:13then every time I see you you've been a driving force behind e-closings and e-signature and digital

01:21workflows. Can you talk to me a little bit about what motivated you to help lenders or even the

01:28industry at large transition to a digital close workflow? Yeah, absolutely. You know I kind of

01:35mentioned that I do use technology in my day-to-day life and so I guess I thought everyone pushed button

01:41got mortgage but that wasn't necessarily really the case and so because I'm a people person and a

01:46good problem solver it just seemed like a natural fit for me to help lenders make that digital

01:51transformation from those outdated paper processes because I mean if you think about it the closing

01:56table is the last touch point these lenders have with borrowers and it blew my mind to realize that

02:00that's a critical bottleneck. And it's what they're left with and that paper signing process is their

02:07last impression right? Absolutely. When you're at that table. Yes and it goes more than just the paper

02:13signing process let's think about all the compliance that goes into that why would we have you know in

02:17house compliance teams when you can have partners that have the compliance expertise generate documents

02:23in seconds have your borrowers review them at their convenience and then you have a 15 minute closing

02:27that's error proof. Now 2019 it's been a minute we've I feel like we've moved leaps and bounds since then

02:36how hard was that for you when you first started? Um it was a great growth opportunity because I

02:42certainly learned empathy okay um you know the borrowers couldn't go anywhere lenders didn't know

02:47what to do and so really that was the prime opportunity to implement digital closings that are possible

02:53from virtually anywhere so I think it was kind of a great I hate to say it but if I find like a rainbow

02:59after every storm it was a good launching pad for a digital close experience. Now I've known you for

03:06years at this point and I feel like whenever we talk there's an emphasis between a consultative

03:13approach but also white glove service. Now you've adopted that approach and what are the but what are

03:21the biggest challenges that you see outside of that service that you're delivering to lenders

03:25for lenders to actually adopt a paperless process? Hmm I do love white glove service because I like doing

03:33things well and like I said I'm a people person and so I really think the biggest thing with the digital

03:38adoption has been change management. We know the technology works the technology is built it's patented

03:45it's there it's just the adoption piece and so that's why I think like that hands-on white glove treatment

03:50is important because it's not just about selling technology having a great idea to implement it

03:55it's about actually successfully adopting it with internal teams and partners. So when you go to

04:03look at that adoption process how often after you get through showing use cases are people like oh do

04:10you have that like moment after you take them through things where it clicks and they're like

04:14I see the vision now? Yeah at every but it happens time and time again at every different level of the

04:18organization because the c-suite has the great idea to implement something new they can see the ROI in it

04:24but you've also got to get the buy-in of the people that are using it every single day and

04:28that are speaking with those borrowers and working with them because it's those people that are on

04:31the ground with the borrowers that really make the biggest impact I think. Let's talk about the

04:35borrowers for a minute how much do you see this impacting their experience when they actually go

04:43to close their mortgage or when they're in the process of even getting to the table? Drastically

04:48I mean when's the last time you shopped for anything unexpected to get it quickly and you weren't online

04:53so consumers have a digital expectation from the start of their home shopping process so I really

05:00like that e-closing allows them to you know not only shop for the homes online before it gets

05:05you know to the closing table but then review those documents at home in their slippers and then show

05:11up to a closing table from virtually anywhere and they feel more confident and it's a 15 minute experience.

05:17Let's say you're a nurse or a firefighter and you just came off of a 24-hour shift and you only have 12

05:25hours or however many hours before your next shift and you have to look at documents you don't have to

05:31go into an office you can sit you can take your shower sit in your pajamas and actually review something

05:37I mean to me that we weren't there as an industry is so crazy because I mean even today

05:42I ordered something and had it delivered here on site and was able to see where it was the whole time

05:51went out got it no problem and it's crazy I think sometimes that there's some still some people who

05:55want to hold on to that paper. Yes and I have so much respect for the people and processes that came

06:01before me but I think we have to be agile and continue to grow with our environments and so when you

06:06mention you know frontline workers things like that I have to take it a step further because it has been so

06:12impactful for everyone in the military that's stationed overseas and so that's an even more

06:17difficult situation to come to a closing table and so this absolutely solves that problem and it's

06:22more than just solves the problem makes the situation better. I hadn't even considered that avenue and you

06:29know I'm feeling very guilty that I haven't but I love that you have and that this is an opportunity

06:35that really brings everyone into the home buying process and affords that opportunity I think most

06:40importantly to everyone because it's already stressful enough right uh-huh we don't need to

06:44make it any more complicated or any more stressful. I agree and I loved Housing Wire's introduction today

06:50to the mortgage banking summit where it was all about the homeowners American dream I mean this really

06:56is the dream the convenience and the confidence when you're buying a loan or your home. Absolutely and

07:02I want to read this part because the this is a significant testament to your leadership

07:08under your leadership DocMagic has achieved significant adoption milestones including 850

07:15million e-signatures and 3 million e-closings those numbers are insane. What strategies have been the

07:22most effective in driving this level of transformation? Thanks. I am very very fortunate to stand in front of

07:28amazing technology that's absolutely the foundation of our success but I think it also comes with the

07:34expertise and the hand holding because even after a lender has implemented something new any new

07:40technology that technology has to be able to grow with that lender and so when we talk about e-signatures

07:45that's almost I mean I'm not even impressed by e-signatures that much anymore because it's an expectation

07:51but if we continue to take it further and further we now have electronic helox is our newest thing that's been

07:57registered with MERS this year. We're also very excited about how AI can help the entire mortgage

08:03origination process so it's growing and scaling with our partners I think. I think that that's fantastic

08:08I think the pace of innovation that we're at in an industry is just incredible I feel like we're moving

08:14faster than ever before just striving to provide that optimal borrower experience because at the end of

08:21the day you're putting people in homes which I feel like is what resonates from that message earlier in

08:25the video that we showed at the beginning of the summit we're talking about all of these really

08:30technical aspects of mortgage but at the end of the day like all of these processes put someone in a home

08:36which I think is so special so I want to take a beat and I want to go over and switch gears a little

08:42bit and talk about you and how you mentor and advocate for women in lending how do you approach leadership

08:49and team development and what advice would you or do you give to your team to succeed in like I said

08:56a very fast evolving industry? Yeah this is a great question I think it's important to identify your

09:03strengths and weaknesses be honest with yourself and in my colleagues I certainly try to once we

09:09identify what they're good at put them in those positions build their confidence and then give them

09:14room to grow because a leader is only as strong as their team. Now I love that I love being able to

09:21reflect on your strengths and weaknesses and clearly it's something that you excel at you are a rising

09:25star winner this year and you've had a very successful career what is one accomplishment that you are most

09:32proud of and what lessons from that experience have guided your leadership style? Gosh okay it's probably

09:40going to be our e-mortgage adoption at DocMagic just because I have been tracking that since the beginning

09:46of my career my entry into this industry so that's post right after college and I have seen it creep and

09:53creep and creep but it continues to grow but what really makes me proud and where I know my name is on

09:59there somewhere um is that DocMagic's um e-mortgage adoption continues to be about 20% above the industry average

10:07so that's within my hula hoop of things I can control what an accomplishment 20% above industry average

10:14that is incredible congratulations so ending it on a note I don't know how we follow that up but what

10:21are you most excited about for the future and why do you think are the biggest areas for innovation?

10:25Gosh um I hate to not be you know novel here but it's going to be AI it's going to be continuing to

10:35implement digital solutions to make our workforce stronger and and our processes for our borrowers

10:42better what a place to leave it Leah thank you so much for joining me today on this episode of 10

10:48Minute Talks and congratulations again on your rising star award thank you Allison I appreciate it

10:53I can't wait to see what more you do in the industry more to come more to come

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