Card payments network giant Discover Financial Services has named Michael Rhodes as chief executive and president. He is expected to take the helm of the company by March 6, according to a Discover release on Dec. 11. 

Rhodes has led TD Bank’s Canadian personal banking segment since January 2022, also serving in other management positions at the bank. Previously, he was managing director of the United States card division at Bank of America, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Rhodes’ base pay will be $1 million along with an annual short-term incentive award target of 200% of base salary and long-term incentive of $7 million, according to Discover’s Dec. 7 Securities and Exchange Commission filing. 

The Riverwoods, Ill.-based financial institution had been on the hunt for a new leader since former CEO Roger Hochschild resigned abruptly in August after the company wrestled with compliance issues in recent years. Rhodes will replace Interim CEO and board member John Owen. 

Ally CEO Brown stepping down

 Ally Financial CEO Jeffrey Brown will step down on Jan. 31. Brown has been CEO since 2015, according to a company release. 

Prior to becoming the CEO of Ally, Brown was was president and CEO of Ally’s Dealer Financial Services business where he oversaw the auto finance, insurance and auto servicing operations, according to the company’s website.

In addition, Diane Morais, Ally’s president of consumer and commercial banking, will step down in July 2024, according to the company’s Nov. 28 SEC filing. 

Morais, who has been with the bank since 2009, was instrumental in driving growth and the digital evolution of Ally’s consumer and commercial banking business. Under her leadership, Ally recorded double-digit growth in retail deposits, according to the bank’s website.  

Upon leaving, Morais will be eligible for a cash payment of $2.5 million, according to the SEC filing. 

Prior to joining $197 billion Ally, Morais worked as a customer experience executive at Bank of America, according to her LinkedIn profile. 

Anand named president at Brex

Expense management company and neobank Brex has promoted Chief Product Officer Karandeep Anand to serve as its first president, according to a company release on Dec. 14. 

Anand joined Salt Lake City, UT-based Brex in January 2022, according to the release. Previously, he had been vice president and head of business products at Meta, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Anand’s customer orientation and technical skills will help Brex scale its platform and serve global companies, a Brex spokesperson told Bank Automation News. 

He will continue to oversee product along with customer success and implementation through go-to-market and sales teams, the spokesperson said. 

“My biggest priority is to maximize the synergies between the teams who build our products and the teams that bring our products to customers,” Anand told BAN. “I am incredibly excited to strengthen the ties between these organizations and create a stronger feedback loop between our customers, our customer-facing teams and our product-building teams.” 

PayPal appoints Kereere 1st president of global markets

Digital payments giant PayPal has hired former Fiserv executive Suzan Kereere to be its first president of global markets, according to the company’s Dec. 6 release. Her appointment is effective Jan. 1.

Kereere will lead San Jose, Calif.-based PayPal’s local businesses and growth strategies in markets worldwide, the release stated. She has been responsible for Fiserv’s product growth strategy. 

Chaudhary named CPO at Pagaya

AI-driven financial technology company Pagaya appointed Abhijit Chaudhary as its chief product officer, according to a recent company release. 

Chaudhary has more than 20 years of experience leading product strategy for fintech and consumer finance companies and previously served as CPO at digital bank Green Dot, according to the release.

 With Chaudhary’s appointment, Pagaya is focused “on expanding our product integration to more lenders across markets with a focus on large U.S. banks and auto captives to drive increased loan application flow,” Avital Pardo, co-founder and chief technology officer of New York-based Pagaya, told BAN. 

His experience at Green Dot helped him in scaling and creating new products for lending institutions at Pagaya, Chaudhary told BAN. 

“In the short term, I plan to drive growth by expanding our product connectivity to U.S. lenders, focused on large banks and auto captives,” Chaudhary said. “In the long term, I’m looking forward to discovering new ways to further monetize our product offering, drive innovation and create revenue diversification.” 

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