A sudden tragedy thrust him into the CEO role at LendingTree
Scott Peyree on the Charlotte tech company's future
The following article appeared in the Jan. 16, 2026, edition of The Charlotte Ledger, an e-newsletter with smart and original local news for Charlotte. We offer free and paid subscription plans. More info here.
After an unexpected loss, LendingTree turned to a steady internal leader to guide its next chapter
by Tony Mecia
On a Sunday last October, LendingTree president and chief operating officer Scott Peyree was in Seattle watching the Seattle Mariners playoff game with a couple of buddies when his phone started ringing.
It was Jill Olmstead, the company’s chief human resources officer. He didn’t pick up.
“She’s calling me on a Sunday. Why is she calling me?” he recalled thinking. “… I blew it off, but then she kept calling, and I’m like, ‘OK, obviously something serious is happening.’”
When he finally picked up the phone, he learned the devastating news that the rest of the world would soon know: that Doug Lebda, LendingTree’s longtime leader who was among Charlotte’s best-known CEOs, had died in a utility-vehicle accident on his farm west of Charlotte.
Peyree, who joined LendingTree in 2018, was the next in line. Lebda’s death quickly thrust him into the CEO role of a public company with 1,000 employees, and one based 2,000+ miles from his home in Seattle.