: Ally Financial Chief Executive Jeffrey J. Brown to leave company in January or possibly sooner

Ally Financial Inc. ALLY stock was down 0.6% in premarket trading Wednesday after the company said Chief Executive Jeffrey J. Brown will step down by early next year to take a job as president of privately-held Hendrick Automotive Group. Brown has headed up Ally Financial since 2015 and steered it toward the mortgage and auto loan business after it was formerly called GMAC as a unit of General Motors Co. GM. Brown will remain with Ally until Jan. 31 or an earlier date determined by Ally’s chair of the board as part of a “smooth” leadership transition, the company said. “What began in 2009 as the financial reengineering of a company ultimately became a bank that truly matters in the financial industry, and now is the right time for me to transition,” Brown said in a prepared statement. “Ally is positioned for a bright future.”

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