Ally Financial has recruited Hope Mehlman as chief legal and corporate affairs officer, effective December 2.
Mehlman, who won Governance Intelligence’s (then Corporate Secretary’s) 2019 Corporate Governance Award for governance professional of the year (large cap), will join Ally from Discover Financial Services where she is chief legal officer, general counsel and corporate secretary.
Discover says in an SEC filing that Mehlman will continue with the company until the earlier of it closing its merger with Capital One Financial Corporation or November 29.
In her new role, Mehlman will lead a newly created legal and corporate affairs office that will oversee all regulatory and legal matters for Ally. She will have responsibility for the company’s legal, compliance, government relations, environmental sustainability and community reinvestment teams.
Mehlman joined Discover in January 2023 having previously been executive vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary at Bank of the West, a subsidiary of French bank BNP Paribas. She has also been corporate secretary of BNP Paribas USA. She joined Bank of the West in September 2020 from Regions Financial Corporation, where she was executive vice president, corporate secretary, chief governance officer and deputy general counsel.
Ally CEO Michael Rhodes says in a statement: ‘Hope has a proven track record as a strong leader, building and evolving legal and compliance teams to enable business performance. Anticipating changes to regulations and laws through a unified approach will continue to be a critical focus at Ally, and Hope’s exceptional thought leadership and business influence will help us deliver even greater impact in this next chapter.’
Ben Maiden
Ben Maiden is the editor-at-large of Governance Intelligence, an IR Media publication, having joined the company in December 2016. He is based in New York. Ben was previously managing editor of Compliance Reporter, covering regulatory and compliance...
