Ally Financial announced that Jeffrey J. Brown has been named chief executive officer, effective immediately, succeeding Michael A. Carpenter who is retiring as chief executive and from the board. Brown, who most recently served as president and CEO of Ally’s Dealer Financial Services business, has also joined Ally’s board of directors.

Ally chairman Franklin “Fritz” Hobbs said, “Jeff Brown is an extraordinarily talented executive with deep financial and operational experience and a strong vision of how to take Ally forward into the future. Jeff joined the company in 2009 as corporate treasurer. In 2011, he became executive vice president of finance and corporate planning, where he oversaw the company’s finance, treasury and corporate strategy activities. And, in March 2014, he was named CEO of Ally’s Dealer Financial Services business. The breadth of experience Jeff has gained during these transformational years at Ally has prepared him fully to take on leadership of the company as it enters its next chapter.”

Commenting on Carpenter, Hobbs continued, “Michael Carpenter has done an outstanding job as CEO and as a board member since joining us at an especially difficult and pivotal time in 2009. Among many other accomplishments, he led our rebranding as Ally; strengthened our financial and market position; restructured a former captive finance company to be the premier, independent auto finance provider; and made Ally a leader in the growing direct banking space. He also successfully completed our initial public offering (IPO) in 2014 and positioned the company to exit this past December from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), which we had entered in 2008.” Noting that the U.S. taxpayers made $2.4 billion on their investment in Ally, Hobbs added, “Mike stepped in when we needed him most. Ally is a stronger and more focused financial services company today because of him, and it has a great future thanks to his tireless leadership over the past five years. I am particularly pleased that Mike has agreed to serve as a consultant to the board. On behalf of the entire board, I thank him for his many contributions and wish him well for the future.”