Ally Financial has named Michael Rhodes as its new CEO, a little more than five months after its former CEO, John Brown, announced he would be leaving the financial services company to become president of Hendrick Automotive Group. Rhodes will also be named to the bank’s board.
Rhodes will start his new job April 29 and work out of Ally’s offices in Charlotte. Rhodes was named CEO of Chicago-area Discover Financial Services in February of this year. He had worked for Toronto-based TD Bank for more than 12 years. He had been over the company’s Canadian Personal Banking his last two years, where he was responsible for a network of more than 1,000 branches, telephone support, online and mobile banking.
“I have long admired Ally’s transformational approach to digital banking and its leading position in automotive finance,” Rhodes says in a statement released by Ally. “The bank has successfully harnessed the power of technology to create financial solutions for its customers and communities consistent with its ‘Do It Right’ mantra.
“I am eager to roll up my sleeves and, together with more than 11,000 Ally teammates, get to work.”
During his tenure at TD Bank, Rhodes also led its North American Credit Card and Merchant Services, and was head of Innovation, Technology and Shared Services. In this role, Rhodes improved the bank’s capability and supported emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence and cloud migration. He also previously held senior positions at Bank of America and MBNA American Bank.
Rhodes earned an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He has some obvious North Carolina roots, holding an engineering degree from Duke University, where he is a current board trustee.
Ally is based in Detroit, but has a large presence in Charlotte where it employs about 2,800 workers. Ally closed Wednesday at $39.81, up 0.63 (1.61%). In the last year it has traded as high as $41.56 and as low as $22.54. It has a market capitalization of $12.1 billion.
In October, Ally announced it would be reducing its workforce by less than 5% after trying to lessen expenses through a pause in hiring and worker attrition over the past year.
Ally was led to hire Rhodes because of his experience in consumer banking, using data and insights to drive decision-making and his commitment to create value for its stockholders, says Franklin Hobbs, board chair of Ally Financial, in a statement released by the bank. Rhodes also “understands the power of a motivated workforce. He knows supporting team members and investing in workplace culture is essential to the mission of any organizaton. Indeed, his passion for serving both customers and employees makes him an unquestionable match to lead Ally.”
Rhodes’ predecessor stepped down at the end of January after nearly nine years as CEO. Doug Timmerman, Ally’s president of Dealer Financial Services, has been serving as interim CEO.
Charlotte-based Hendrick is owned by Rick Hendrick and is the largest privately held U.S. automotive retail organization with nearly 11,000 employees and 131 retail franchises in 13 states. Annual revenues top $11 billion.