Spending one's entire career at a single company — a "lifer," so to speak — can have complicated consequences. Is the experience and deep dive one gets enough to overcome feelings of insecurity around knowledge of the industry and the "real world"? If you ask Ally's Cindy Balint, executive director of consumer credit operations, it all comes down to a focus on the customer.
"Of course, I have the fear that I am not up to speed on everything because I've spent so much time at Ally, and prior to that GMAC. [GMAC rebranded as Ally Financial in May 2010.] But I know if I focus on the customer — whom I make sure I interact with on a daily basis — that's what keeps me grounded. The dealers we support are in a very competitive space. So, if we focus on them and are committed to serving their needs, we're automatically solving for that problem. They will keep us on our toes," she said.
Her journey with Ally started while she was still a college student and she happened upon the GMAC booth at the job fair she was assigned to attend. "Finance had always interested me, and I was a big car lover, so I was naturally drawn to them." Fast forward to today and Balint has now held 13 different positions at Ally in her 18-year tenure with the auto lending leader, from credit analyst to business development manager to regional director, before moving into her current role. What has made Balint stand out is her ability to "create groundswell," according to Doug Timmerman, president, dealer financial services at the $181 billion-asset Ally, the nation's largest all-digital bank. "What impresses me most is her ability to drive tangible results while developing the talent around her. She's inspired and developed her team of over 100 — lifting them to new heights while navigating complex challenges to deliver exceptional results."
Six months into her new role, Balint led the strategic expansion of Ally's 13-state West region, growing the business in an accretive manner and regaining the top spot as the non-captive lender in that region in January 2025.
Her agility in facing challenges and resolving them quickly and effectively was on full display when Balint managed the wind down of a dealer-partner with a sizable commercial exposure with the bank. The dealer-partner's decision to wind down its retail operations could have had significant implications for Ally's balance sheet given the nature of the commercial facility and volume of retail originations derived from the borrower. Yet Balint meticulously managed the wind down in less than 30 days, with no corporate losses incurred.
For Balint, the sense of family that comes along with working for the same company for an entire career has created a desire to cultivate and mentor, even in someone still relatively early in their career.
"When you get to the point in your life where you feel like you don't have to prove anything to anyone anymore, you can look outside yourself. Look, we're a legacy company. There's a lot of people in the organization whose father worked here. Their mother worked here. So, people are watching out for them. If I see potential in someone, I tend to see myself in them and know that someone saw that in me and took a chance on me. I feel drawn to give that back to my family at Ally."
