Jeffrey R. Immelt

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Jeffrey Immelt
Immelt at the Centricity Healthcare User Group conference in Washington, D.C. (August 28, 2009)
Chairperson of the Council on Jobs and Competitiveness
Incumbent
Assumed office
February 23, 2011
President Barack Obama
Preceded by Paul Volcker (President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board)
Chairman and CEO of General Electric
Incumbent
Assumed office
September 7, 2001
Preceded by Jack Welch
Personal details
Born (1956-02-19) February 19, 1956 (age 56)
Cincinnati, Ohio, United States
Political party Republican Party[1]
Spouse(s) Andrea Immelt
Children 1 (Sarah)
Alma mater Dartmouth College
Harvard Business School

Jeffrey Robert "Jeff" Immelt (born February 19, 1956) is an American business executive. He is currently the chairman of the board and chief executive officer of the U.S.-based conglomerate General Electric. He was selected by GE's Board of Directors in 2000 to replace Jack Welch following his retirement. Previously, Immelt had headed up GE's Medical Systems division (now known as GE Healthcare) as its President and CEO.

Contents

[edit] Life and career

Immelt was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, the son of Donna Rosemary (née Wallace), a school teacher, and Joseph Francis Immelt, who managed the General Electric Aircraft Engines Division.[2][3] Immelt attended Finneytown High School; he played football in college and was an offensive tackle[4]. He holds an B.A. in Applied Mathematics from Dartmouth College where he currently serves on the board of trustees[5] and was president of his fraternity, Phi Delta Alpha, and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. He has been with GE since 1982 and is on the board of two non-profit organizations, one of which is the Robin Hood Foundation, a charitable organization which attempts to alleviate problems caused by poverty in New York City.[6]

His tenure as chairman and CEO started off on a low note - he took over the role on September 7, 2001, just four days before the terrorist attacks on the United States, which killed two employees and cost GE's insurance business $600 million, as well as having a direct effect on the company's Aircraft Engines sector. Jeffrey Immelt has been CEO of General Electric for 10 years and with the company for 29 years, where he finds himself as number 145 on Forbes' CEO Compensation list. He has a total five year compensation of $53.82 million, ranking him 6th place among the Conglomerates. [7] Immelt was named to Time magazine's 100 most influential people in the world in 2008.[8] Since taking over, GE's stock has dropped nearly 60%. General Electric has closed more than 31 plants since 2008 and let go of more than 19,000 employees, but Immelt still took home $15.2 million in 2011.[9] Recently, Immelt has been criticized by Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly for business transactions between GE and Iran, the country which has reportedly been attacking U.S. forces in Iraq.[10] O'Reilly went as far as to say, "If my child were killed in Iraq, I would blame the likes of Jeffrey Immelt".[11] GE's website claims that the company stopped doing business in Iran in 2005 (and finished all contracts by 2008).[12]

According to documents filed with the Federal Elections Commission, Immelt lives with his wife Andrea in New Canaan, Connecticut.

[edit] Obama administration

In February 2009, 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.[13] 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.[14]

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.[15] 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."[15] Immelt will retain his post at G.E. while becoming "chairman of the Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, a newly named panel that President Obama is creating by executive order."[15] Despite this, in July 2011 Immelt's General Electric announced that it is in the process of relocating its X-ray division from Wisconsin to China.[16][17] Immelt had previously referred to China as GE's "second home market".[18]

[edit] Compensation

Immelt at U.S. Climate Action Partnership event in 2007

As CEO of General Electric in 2007, Immelt earned a total compensation of $14,209,267, which included a base salary of $3,300,000, a cash bonus of $5,800,000, stocks granted of $4,713,000, and options granted of $0.[19] In 2008, he earned a total compensation of $5,717,469, which included a base salary of $3,300,000, stocks granted of $2,044,650, and other compensation of $372,819. He waived his bonus in 2008.[20] In 2009, Immelt earned a total compensation of $5,487,155, which included a base salary of $3,300,000, a cash bonus of $0, stocks granted of $1,791,000, and options granted of $0, and other income of $396,155.[21] In 2010, Immelt's compensation nearly doubled to $15.2 million. He did not receive any bonus for almost 2 years, but in February he received $4 million for his work in 2010. [22]

[edit] Commencement addresses

After becoming chairman of GE, Immelt delivered his first commencement address to the 2001 graduating class of the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College, of which he is an alumnus. He gave the college commencement address and received an honorary Doctor of Laws from Dartmouth, in June 2004.[23] In the years that followed, Immelt gave the commencement address at Northeastern University (2006), Pepperdine University on April 29, 2006, the Georgia Institute of Technology on May 5, 2007, the University of Notre Dame on May 20, 2007, Worcester Polytechnic Institute on May 17, 2008, and Michigan State University on December 11, 2010, receiving honorary doctorates from all six as well. He was the commencement speaker on May 23, 2010, at Hamilton College and on May 24, 2010, at Boston College. He addressed the undergraduate class of 2011 of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County on May 23, 2011, and received an honorary Doctor of Public Service [24] degree despite controversy at the school[25] over GE's corporate tax strategies.[26]

[edit] Further reading

[edit] References

  1. ^ Julianna Goldman and Rachel Layne (January 21, 2011). "Obama Asks GE's Immelt to Head Economic Advisory Panel, Replacing Volcker". Bloomberg. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-01-21/obama-taps-ge-s-immelt-for-economy-panel-replace-volcker.html. Retrieved 2011-01-21. 
  2. ^ http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3448500266.html
  3. ^ Byrum Keller, Valerie (1974). Immel and Imel families in America: twigs and branches of the Immel family tree. Schlechter's. p. 25. 
  4. ^ "GE's Jeff Immelt: how the US can win (15:00)". Reuters. http://www.reuters.com/video/2011/11/04/soros-greeks-would-be-ill-advised-to-lea?videoId=223718261&videoChannel=4301&refresh=true. 
  5. ^ "Board expands with appointment of five new members". The Dartmouth News Releases. http://thedartmouth.com/2008/09/06/news/boardupdate. Retrieved 2008-09-06. [dead link]
  6. ^ Business Week
  7. ^ Forbes. "#145 Jeffrey R. Immelt". http://www.forbes.com/lists/2011/12/ceo-compensation-11_Jeffrey-R-Immelt_67G5.html.. Retrieved February 29, 2012. 
  8. ^ "The 2010 Time 100". Time. http://www.time.com/time/time100/. Retrieved May 6, 2010. 
  9. ^ Chatterjee, Pratap. "CEOs rewarded most for raising unemployment". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/sep/02/ceos-pay-us-unemployment. Retrieved February 29, 2012. 
  10. ^ "How Iran Is Killing U.S. Troops in Iraq". Pajamas Media. http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/how-iran-is-killing-us-troops-in-iraq/. Retrieved 2009-04-24. 
  11. ^ Kurtz, Howard (May 19, 2008). "Feud Fuels Bill O'Reilly's Blasts at GE". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/18/AR2008051802313.html. 
  12. ^ "GE's Iran Policy". ge.com. http://www.ge.com/news/our_viewpoints/iran.html. Retrieved 2009-04-27. 
  13. ^ "Los Angeles Times article Who's Who on new economic advisory board". latimes.com. February 6, 2009. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/money_co/2009/02/economic-recove.html. Retrieved 2009-02-05. 
  14. ^ Goldman, Juliana and Rachel Layne. "Obama Asks GE's Immelt to Head Economic Advisory Panel, Replacing Volcker". http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-01-21/obama-taps-ge-s-immelt-for-economy-panel-replace-volcker.html.. Retrieved February 25, 2012. 
  15. ^ a b c Stolberg, Cheryl and O'Connor, Anahad (2011-01-21) Obama Sends Pro-Business Signal With Adviser Choice, New York Times
  16. ^ Burkitt, Laurie (July 26, 2011). "GE Bases X-Ray Unit in China". The Wall Street Journal. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904772304576467873321597208.html. 
  17. ^ http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/ge.asp
  18. ^ Burkitt, Laurie (July 26, 2011). "GE Bases X-Ray Unit in China". The Wall Street Journal. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904772304576467873321597208.html. 
  19. ^ 2007 CEO Compensation for Jeffrey R. Immelt , Equilar
  20. ^ 2008 Bonus, incentive waiver by GE , TopNews US
  21. ^ 2009 CEO Compensation for Jeffrey R. Immelt , Equilar
  22. ^ Press, Associated. "GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt saw compensation jump to $15.2 million". http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2011/03/ge_ceo_jeffrey_immelt_saw_comp.html.. Retrieved February 29, 2012. 
  23. ^ "Dartmouth Commencement 2004". Dartmouth News Releases. http://www.dartmouth.edu/~news/releases/2004/06/13i.html. Retrieved 2007-08-16. 
  24. ^ "UMBC Spring 2011 Commencement Ceremonies". http://www.umbc.edu/NewsEvents/Commencement/. Retrieved 2011-05-18. 
  25. ^ Ignacio & Paul (3 May 2011). "Students outraged over choice of commencement speakers". The Retriever Weekly. http://www.retrieverweekly.com/?cmd=displaystory&story_id=6768&format=html. Retrieved 18 May 2011. 
  26. ^ Kocieniewski, David (24 March 2011). "G.E.’s Strategies Let It Avoid Taxes Altogether". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/25/business/economy/25tax.html?_r=1. Retrieved 18 May 2011. 

[edit] External links

Business positions
Preceded by
Jack Welch		 Chairman and CEO of General Electric
2001–present		 Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by
Paul Volcker
as Chairperson of the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board		 Chairperson of the Council on Jobs and Competitiveness
2011–present		 Incumbent
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