Immelt, Jeffrey Robert, 1956-

<p>Jeffrey Robert Immelt (born February 19, 1956) is an American business executive currently working as a venture partner at New Enterprise Associates. He stepped down as CEO of the U.S.-based conglomerate General Electric (GE) on August 1, 2017 and retired from his position as chairman of the board of GE on October 2, 2017. He was selected as GE's CEO by their board of directors in 2000 to replace Jack Welch upon Welch's retirement from GE. Previously, Immelt had headed up GE's Medical Systems division (now known as GE Healthcare) as its president and CEO.</p>

<p>Immelt was born in Cincinnati, the son of Donna Rosemary (née Wallace), a school teacher, and Joseph Francis Immelt, who managed the General Electric Aircraft Engines Division ("GEAE" is now known as GE Aviation).</p>

<p>Immelt attended Finneytown High School; he played football in college and was an offensive tackle. He earned an A.B. in Applied Mathematics and Economics cum laude from Dartmouth College graduating with the class of 1978; he was president of his fraternity, Phi Delta Alpha, and currently serves on the Dartmouth board of trustees.</p>

<p>During his years at Dartmouth he worked summers on a Ford assembly line in Cincinnati; after graduating he worked for Procter and Gamble before matriculating at Harvard for his MBA.</p>

<p>Immelt earned his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, graduating in 1982. He described business school as "one of the most intense times of your life."</p>

<p>Immelt had been with GE since 1982, when he graduated from Harvard with a Master of Business Administration degree. He held a number of increasingly senior positions in GE's plastics, appliances, and healthcare businesses. He became a GE officer in 1989, joined the GE Capital board in 1997 and took on the leadership of GE Healthcare before being named CEO.</p>

<p>The competition for the CEO position that Immelt won began when Jack Welch asked Gary Wendt, the head of GE Financial Services, Inc, then a $41 billion empire and GE's most profitable division, to resign, on the theory that he would overshadow Welch's other candidates. Immelt surpassed Robert Nardelli, who was so close to Welch that his nickname was "Little Jack", and James McNerney; Nardelli would leave GE to head Home Depot and then Chrysler, and McNerney left GE to lead 3M (before going on to lead Boeing). Immelt was selected by the GE Board in November, 2000, to succeed Welch as CEO of GE; he served as GE's president and chairman-elect for ten months before taking the position of chairman and CEO of GE on September 7, 2001. He retired, three months earlier than expected, as chairman of GE's board on October 2, 2017. He also concurrently stepped down from the board of Baker Hughes.</p>

<p>In February 2009, in the early days of the Obama administration, Immelt was appointed as a member to the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board to provide the president and his administration with advice and counsel in fixing America's economic downturn. When President Obama chose to put Jeffrey Immelt at the head of the Economic Advisory Board, he felt that Immelt had attributions in knowing what would help the global economy. Obama has reported that Immelt has emerged as one of his top economic advisors in regards to trying to rebuild America's economy.</p>

<p>On January 21, 2011, President Obama announced Immelt's appointment as chairman of his outside panel of economic advisers, succeeding former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker. The New York Times reported that Obama's appointment of Immelt was "another strong signal that he intends to make the White House more business-friendly." The council met a total of four times, with its final meeting on January 17, 2012. In 2013, the authorization for the council was not renewed, causing the council to be permanently shut down.</p>

<p><b>Jeffrey R. Immelt<br>
Chairman & CEO 2001 - 2017</b></p>

<p>Jeff Immelt was the 9th Chairman of GE and served as CEO for 16 years, transforming GE into a simpler, stronger, and more focused digital industrial company. Immelt revamped the company’s strategy, global footprint, workforce and culture, positioning GE for the future. During his tenure, industrial earnings doubled and GE returned $143B in dividends, more than in the cumulative history of the company.</p>

<p>Immelt was willing to disrupt GE reshaping the company’s portfolio during the last decade, with bold moves such as the $260 billion sale of GE Capital assets, the acquisition of platforms in Life Sciences and Renewables, adding global energy leader Alstom, the combination of GE Oil & Gas with Baker Hughes, and the divestitures of legacy businesses like GE Appliances, NBC Universal and Plastics. He was the architect of the GE Store, leveraging GE’s unique scale to drive growth. Under his leadership, GE re-established market leadership with technological innovation, grew a strong share position in essential industries, and built a backlog of $320 billion.</p>

<p>Immelt led several innovative transformations during his tenure. GE is the pre-eminent global company with more than 60% of its revenue coming from outside the U.S. Under his leadership, emerging market revenue quadrupled. GE became the first Digital Industrial building a strong digital platform in GE, establishing leadership in the Industrial Internet. GE is well positioned to lead the next revolution in productivity through additive manufacturing. GE has been a leader in important growth themes, like clean energy, through its ecomagination initiative. GE remains one of the top 10 most valuable brands in the world, and has consistently been viewed as the best company for developing leaders.</p>

<p>Immelt held several global leadership positions since joining GE in 1982, including roles in GE's Plastics, Appliances, and Healthcare businesses. In 1989, he became an Officer of the company and, in 2000, was appointed Chief Executive Officer.</p>

<p>He has been named one of the "World's Best CEOs" three times by Barron's. Since he began serving as CEO, GE has been named "America's Most Admired Company" by Fortune magazine and one of "The World's Most Respected Companies" in polls by Barron's and the Financial Times. He has received fifteen honorary degrees and numerous awards for business leadership.</p>

<p>Under the Obama administration, he chaired the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness. He is a member of The American Academy of Arts & Sciences.</p>

<p>Immelt earned a B.A. degree in applied mathematics from Dartmouth College in 1978 and an M.B.A. from Harvard University in 1982. He and his wife have one daughter.</p>