Loan Officer (LO) is the originator who structures a borrower's file, presents it to lenders, and shepherds it from application through funding. A LO is licensed (NMLS in the US for consumer credit; varying state licenses for business-purpose) and represents either a single lender, a brokerage, or themselves.
For investor borrowers, the LO's real value is structural: which program fits the deal, which lender will say yes, what conditions will surface, how to pre-clear them. The Lending Desk publishes from the loan officer's point of view — what we see at the closing table, the files we send to underwriting, the conditions that quietly kill deals.