Jeffrey Robert "Jeff" Immelt 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 as its President and CEO.
Life and career Immelt was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, the son
of Donna Rosemary, a school teacher, and Joseph Francis Immelt, who managed the General Electric
Aircraft Engines Division.
Immelt attended Finneytown High School; he played football in college and was an offensive
tackle.
He holds a A.B. in Applied Mathematics from Dartmouth College where he currently serves
on the board of trustees and was president of his fraternity, Phi Delta Alpha.
Immelt also received 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.
He served as Chairman of The Business Council in 2005 and 2006.
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.
Immelt has a total five year compensation of $53.82 million, an income which ranked
sixth among executives employed by US-based conglomerates.
Immelt was named to Time magazine's 100 most influential people in the world in 2009.
Since taking over, GE's stock price has dropped 3% while income has risen from $15.1 billion
in 2002 to $16.9 billion in 2013.
Overall General Electric year end employment has dropped from 315,000 in 2002 to 307,000
in 2013.
According to documents filed with the Federal Elections Commission, Immelt lives with his
wife Andrea in New Canaan, Connecticut.
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.
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.
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."
Immelt will retain his post at GE while becoming "chairman of the Council on Jobs and Competitiveness,
a newly named panel that President Obama is creating by executive order."
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.
Immelt had previously referred to China as GE's "second home market".
Compensation 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
In the years that followed, Immelt gave the commencement address at Northeastern University,
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 degree despite controversy
at the school over GE's corporate tax strategies.
In May 2013, he delivered the commencement address at the University of Connecticut Graduate
School, receiving an honorary doctorate as well.
Further reading David Magee, 2009, Jeff Immelt and the New
GE Way: Innovation, Transformation, and Winning in the 21st Century, McGraw-Hill Professional.
ISBN 978-0-07-160587-8 The Immelt Revolution, businessweek, 2005
References
External links General Electric, Executive Bio and Photo
September 2009 speech by Immelt regarding GE Healthcare
Leading Questions: GE's Jeff Immelt, Interview with BBC Business