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Matt Stepnes named Tournament Director of award-winning PGA TOUR Champions event 

GRAND BLANC, Mich. – Officials of The Ally Challenge presented by McLaren announced today that Matt Stepnes has been named tournament director of the HNS Sports Group managed, award-winning PGA TOUR Champions event, now entering its third year at Warwick Hills Golf & Country Club.

Stepnes joins The Ally Challenge management team after seven plus years with the PGA TOUR, including sales and marketing for the Genesis Open at Riviera and management within the PGA TOUR’s Official Marketing Partnership division of in-market activations at over 28 tournaments. Most recently, Stepnes served as the Sales Director for the inaugural Rocket Mortgage Classic PGA TOUR event at Detroit Golf Club.

Stepnes has more than 20 years of professional career experience in sports and event marketing, with a focus on golf and team sports, including the NBA, NHL and MLB. He currently resides in Rochester Hills, Mich., with his wife Valerie and their two children, son Jack (16) and daughter Taylor (14).

Stepnes is set to lead The Ally Challenge presented by McLaren after the tournament announced a five-year extension, on September 14, 2019, of its agreements with title sponsor Ally Financial Inc., presenting sponsor McLaren Health Care, host venue Warwick Hills Golf & Country Club, and the PGA TOUR. The extensions ensure The Ally Challenge will continue as a PGA TOUR Champions event played at Warwick Hills Golf & Country Club through 2025.

“I am thrilled to join the HNS Sports Group team and excited to lead our efforts to continue the tremendous success achieved by The Ally Challenge to date,” said Stepnes. “I look forward to this incredible opportunity to grow the tournament and expand the philanthropic impact The Ally Challenge makes on the community.”

The 2020 Ally Challenge presented by McLaren is July 27 – August 2.

The Ally Challenge will be one of the premier Regular Season events on PGA TOUR Champions in 2020, which will give way to the fourth-annual Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs – a season-ending, three tournament series used to determine the Tour’s season-long champion.

All three rounds of The Ally Challenge presented by McLaren will be broadcast on Golf Channel.

For more information about The Ally Challenge, please visit theallychallenge.com. For the latest Ally Challenge news and updates on social media follow the tournament on Twitter and Instagram at @AllyChallenge and on Facebook at Facebook.com/AllyChallenge.

About The Ally Challenge presented by McLaren

The Ally Challenge presented by McLaren is an official event on the PGA TOUR Champions owned and operated by Tournaments for Charity, a Michigan non-profit corporation. This 54-hole stroke play golf tournament features 78 PGA TOUR Champions professionals competing for a $2 million purse at the historic Warwick Hills Golf & Country Club in Grand Blanc, Michigan. The event is designed to showcase the best golf on the PGA TOUR Champions for the enjoyment of spectators and to benefit local charities in the greater Flint area. All three official rounds will be internationally televised on the Golf Channel.

For more information about The Ally Challenge presented by McLaren, please visit theallychallenge.com. For the latest Ally Challenge news and updates on social media follow the tournament on Twitter and Instagram at @AllyChallenge and on Facebook at Facebook.com/AllyChallenge.

About Ally Financial Inc.

Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE: ALLY) is a leading digital financial-services company with $180.6 billion in assets as of December 31, 2019. As a customer-centric company with passionate customer service and innovative financial solutions, we are relentlessly focused on "Doing it Right" and being a trusted financial-services provider to our consumer, commercial, and corporate customers. We are one of the largest full-service automotive-finance operations in the country and offer a wide range of financial services and insurance products to automotive dealerships and consumers. Our award-winning online bank (Ally Bank, Member FDIC and Equal Housing Lender) offers mortgage-lending services and a variety of deposit and other banking products, including savings, money-market, and checking accounts, certificates of deposit (CDs), and individual retirement accounts (IRAs). Additionally, we offer securities-brokerage and investment-advisory services through Ally Invest. Our robust corporate finance business offers capital for equity sponsors and middle-market companies.

For more information and disclosures about Ally, visit https://www.ally.com/#disclosures.

For further news regarding Ally, please visit the Ally press room at http://media.ally.com.

About McLaren Health Care

McLaren Health Care, headquartered in Grand Blanc, Michigan, is a fully integrated health network committed to quality, evidence-based patient care and cost efficiency. The McLaren system includes 14 hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, imaging centers, a 490-member employed primary and specialty care physician network, commercial and Medicaid HMOs covering more than 588,000 lives in Michigan and Indiana, home health, infusion and hospice providers, pharmacy services, a clinical laboratory network and a wholly owned medical malpractice insurance company. McLaren operates Michigan’s largest network of cancer centers and providers, anchored by the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, one of only 50 National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer centers in the U.S.  McLaren has 26,000 employees and more than 85,200 network providers throughout Michigan and Indiana. Its operations are housed in more than 350 inpatient and ambulatory facilities.  Learn more at www.mclaren.org.

About HNS Sports Group

HNS Sports Group is a Dublin, Ohio-based LLC founded in 2000. The company offers over 125-plus years of collective experience and is committed to providing professional, efficient and effective client representation in the categories of sponsorship consultation, event management, hospitality management, sales representation and tournament operations within the golf market. To learn more about HNS Sports Group, visit www.hnssports.com.

Media Contact
Thomas P. Sprouse
Director of Communications,
The Ally Challenge presented by McLaren
E-Mail: tsprouse@hnssports.com
Office: 614-889-6791
Mobile: 614-519-1873


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