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Chris McLendon is Tidalwave’s chief revenue officer and a 2026 HousingWire Finance Leader. HousingWire’s profile connects his background in enterprise mortgage technology sales with a commercial strategy focused on lender economics, high-volume customers, and revenue-generating deployments. Its reported savings, customer, and financing figures are claims attributed to HousingWire—not independently audited results.
Who is Chris McLendon?
McLendon leads revenue at Tidalwave, a company focused on AI tools for mortgage operations. HousingWire named him a 2026 Finance Leader, recognizing his work on the company’s lender-focused commercial strategy.
His experience spans enterprise sales at two major mortgage technology firms. HousingWire’s 2026 profile says he spent 10 years as a sales executive at ICE Mortgage Technology and five years at Black Knight Financial Services. It says he led enterprise sales with lenders including Chase and M&T Bank and worked with more than 300 lenders nationwide. Tidalwave’s February 2025 announcement also cites 10 years at ICE and five at Black Knight, and characterizes his industry experience as more than 25 years. The sources use different phrasing for his past titles, so the shared employer and tenure details are clearer than a precise title history.
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HousingWire reports that McLendon joined Tidalwave with a mandate to demonstrate the financial viability of agentic AI mortgage automation. According to the profile, he aimed the go-to-market strategy at lenders facing margin pressure and priced the offering around a target of $1,500 in savings per loan while preserving positive company unit economics. That is a reported strategy and savings target, not independently verified evidence that lenders realized those savings.
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Prioritizing commercial viability
The profile says McLendon prioritized high-volume lenders, tied contracts to loan volume, and ended pilots that did not generate revenue. The approach links product adoption to operational scale and revenue rather than treating pilot activity alone as proof of commercial success.
Reported deployments and a future target
HousingWire names NEXA Lending, First Colony Mortgage, Flat Branch Home Loans, and DHI Mortgage as customers deploying Tidalwave’s platform in production. Separately, the profile reports a company target of having 15,000 loans per month under contract by the end of 2026. The customer deployments are described as current in the profile; the monthly loan figure is a forward-looking target, not an achieved result.
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What is known about Tidalwave and SOLO
In a February 18, 2025 announcement, Tidalwave said McLendon had joined as chief revenue officer and described SOLO as its flagship AI platform for automating mortgage underwriting tasks. The announcement also used promotional language about integrations and customer growth; those descriptions establish what the company said at the time, not an independent assessment of product capability or adoption.
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The announcement attributed this statement to McLendon: “After decades in mortgage tech, I’ve never seen anything with the potential as impactful as TidalWave’s SOLO™.” It is his quoted assessment in a company announcement, not an external evaluation of the platform.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Reported financing
HousingWire’s 2026 profile says McLendon helped structure a $22 million Series A led by Permanent Capital, with participation from D.R. Horton. The amount and investor roles are reported by HousingWire; they have not been independently confirmed here against transaction filings or investor announcements.
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How to read the figures
| Figure | What it refers to | Attribution and qualification |
|---|---|---|
| $1,500 per loan | Targeted savings associated with Tidalwave’s offering | Reported by HousingWire in 2026 as part of the strategy and pricing; not an independently verified realized saving. |
| 15,000 loans per month | Loans under contract | Reported by HousingWire in 2026 as a target for the end of 2026, not an achieved figure. |
| $22 million | Series A financing | Reported by HousingWire in 2026; the profile names Permanent Capital as lead and D.R. Horton as a participant. Not independently confirmed here. |
| More than 25 years | McLendon’s industry experience | Tidalwave’s characterization in its February 2025 announcement. |
Sources
- HousingWire — 2026 Finance Leader profile; source for the award profile, strategy, reported deployments, target, and financing claims.
- PRWeb — Tidalwave’s February 18, 2025 announcement of McLendon’s appointment and company description of SOLO.
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