About Victor Ciardelli

Victor Ciardelli, CEO and founder of Guaranteed Rate, is an innovative entrepreneur who after recognizing the outdated methods of the mortgage industry, identified the need for a technology-based, streamlined approach. His ideas led to the founding of Guaranteed Rate in June 2000. The mortgage company’s offering of low rates and fees, an easy-to-understand process and transparency behind home loan costs resonated with home buyers. This positioned Guaranteed Rate to become Chicago’s largest independent mortgage lender within three years of its opening.

Today, Guaranteed Rate is the largest independent retail mortgage company in the U.S. and one of the ten largest retail mortgage lenders overall. In 2015, Guaranteed Rate helped hundreds of thousands of people with more than $18 billion in home purchase loans and refinances. The company’s focus on being the leader in developing and employing industry-leading technologies and processes is propelling its growth. Guaranteed Rate employs over 3,000 team members in more than 175 offices in all 50 states and Washington, DC.

Victor’s efforts to transform an industry have not gone unnoticed. He was named “CEO of the Year” at the 2014 CityLights Awards, which honor the best in Chicago’s innovation and technology community. In 2012, Ciardelli was named the regional winner of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award, and was named “CEO of the Year” by Mortgage Executive Magazine in both 2012 and 2013. In addition, he was named to MPA Magazine’s 2013 “Hot 100” list of the most influential people in the mortgage industry.

The company he so passionately leads continues to receive accolades as well. In 2014, and for the past 6 years, Inc. Magazine has included Guaranteed Rate to the “Inc. 5000” list of fastest growing privately-held companies in the U.S. The company has also more top loan originators than any other bank or mortgage company, according to the top mortgage industry publication, Mortgage Executive Magazine. Guaranteed Rate has also been named one of “Chicago’s Top Workplaces” in 2014 by the Chicago Tribune.

Committed to giving back to the community and those it serves, Victor established the Guaranteed Rate Foundation, designed to help families and their communities in times of hardship or unexpected need. The Foundation has helped more than 750 individuals and distributed more than $750,000 in aid related to financial hardship, acute medical needs, disaster relief funds and scholarship assistance.