Ally Financial Names Discover Chief Michael Rhodes as CEO

Ally Financial has announced that Michael G. Rhodes will become its new CEO and will be appointed to the board of directors on April 29.

Rhodes has just resigned as the CEO of Discover Financial Services and a member of its board of directors, Ally Financial said in a Wednesday (March 27) press release.

“After an exhaustive search process, the board has chosen Michael to lead Ally into the next stage of its evolution,” Franklin Hobbs, chairman of the board of Ally Financial, said in the release. “Our trust is grounded in his versatile consumer banking experience, his focus on using data and insights to drive decision-making, and his commitment to creating long-term value for our stockholders.”

Ally Financial’s president of dealer financial services, Douglas Timmerman, has been serving as the company’s interim CEO since Feb. 1. He assumed that role following the Jan. 31 departure of former CEO Jeffrey J. Brown.

Rhodes said in the release that he has “long admired Ally’s transformational approach to digital banking and its leading position in automotive finance.”

“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,” Rhodes said.

Discover said in a Wednesday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that its board of directors accepted Rhodes’ resignation on Tuesday (March 26), effective April 1.

“Mr. Rhodes, who was not expected to have a long-term role at the combined company after completion of the company’s merger with Capital One Financial Corporation, informed the board that he has accepted a job offer at another financial institution,” Discover said in the filing.

Capital One announced Feb. 19 that it plans to acquire Discover in a $35.3 billion transaction that will create a global payments platform with 70 million merchant acceptance points in more than 200 countries and territories.

On the same day it accepted the resignation of Rhodes, Discover’s board appointed J. Michael Shepherd as interim CEO and president of the company, effective April 1, according to the filing. Shepherd will continue to serve as a director but will resign as a member of the risk oversight committee while serving in those new roles.