Joe Tyrrell

Chief Executive Officer Optimal Blue

Last Reviewed: September 18, 2026

Executive Summary

Joe Tyrrell is Chief Executive Officer of Optimal Blue, appointed on 10 June 2024. Optimal Blue operates the product, pricing and eligibility engine and secondary marketing platform that a large share of the US mortgage industry depends on — the infrastructure determining what rate a borrower is quoted and how the resulting loan is hedged and sold into the secondary market. Tyrrell arrived with over 25 years in the sector and an unusually complete view of it, having been President of ICE Mortgage Technology and, before that, Chief Operating Officer at Ellie Mae. Between the two mortgage roles he spent eighteen months as Chief Executive Officer of Medallia, the customer experience company, before returning.

Career Highlights

• Appointed Chief Executive Officer of Optimal Blue on 10 June 2024.
• Named a HousingWire Vanguards recipient three times, in 2017, 2021, and 2024 — at three different companies.
• Served as President of ICE Mortgage Technology until March 2023.
• Held Chief Operating Officer and EVP of corporate strategy roles at Ellie Mae before its 2020 acquisition.
• Served eighteen months as Chief Executive Officer of Medallia.
• More than 25 years across mortgage, finance, and technology.

Professional Journey

Tyrrell attended Saint Mary’s College of California and built his career in mortgage technology, the software layer underneath American home lending. He spent years at Ellie Mae, the company whose Encompass platform became the dominant loan origination system in the United States, rising to Executive Vice President of corporate strategy — a role recognized with a HousingWire Vanguards award in 2017 — and subsequently to Chief Operating Officer. Ellie Mae was acquired by Intercontinental Exchange in 2020 as part of ICE’s move into mortgage infrastructure, and Tyrrell became President of the combined ICE Mortgage Technology business, receiving a second Vanguards award in that role in 2021.

He left ICE Mortgage Technology in March 2023 and moved outside the sector entirely, becoming Chief Executive Officer of Medallia, the customer and employee experience management company. He held that role for approximately eighteen months.

In June 2024 he returned to mortgage technology as Chief Executive Officer of Optimal Blue. The business sits at a different point in the mortgage chain from Ellie Mae’s: where a loan origination system manages the process of making a loan, Optimal Blue’s product, pricing and eligibility engine determines what can be offered to a given borrower at what rate, and its secondary marketing tools manage how lenders hedge and sell the resulting loans. Because those decisions are made continuously against moving markets, the platform occupies a position where accuracy and speed translate directly into lender profitability.

Tyrrell has positioned the company around applying AI and automation to mortgage lending workflows, and received a third HousingWire Vanguards award in 2024, his first in the Optimal Blue role.

Education

Saint Mary’s College of California

Attended