Jeff Immelt
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Jeffrey Robert Immelt (born February 19, 1956) is an American business executive currently working as a venture partner at
New Enterprise Associates New Enterprise Associates (NEA) is an American-based venture capital firm. NEA focuses investment stages ranging from seed stage through growth stage across an array of industry sectors. With ~$25 billion in committed capital, NEA is one of the w ...
. He previously served as the CEO of
General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...
from 2001 to 2017, and the CEO of GE's Medical Systems division from 1997 to 2000.


Early life

Immelt was born in
Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
, the son of Donna Rosemary (née Wallace), a school teacher, and Joseph Francis Immelt, who managed the General Electric Aircraft Engines Division. Immelt attended
Finneytown High School Finneytown High School is a public high school in the Finneytown neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio. It is the only public High School in the Finneytown Local School District. The district serves the neighborhood of Finneytown and surrounding Sprin ...
; he played football in college and was an offensive tackle. He earned an A.B. in
applied mathematics Applied mathematics is the application of mathematical methods by different fields such as physics, engineering, medicine, biology, finance, business, computer science, and industry. Thus, applied mathematics is a combination of mathematical s ...
and
economics Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...
''cum laude'' from
Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...
in 1978. He was president of his fraternity, Phi Delta Alpha. During his years at Dartmouth he worked summers on a
Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...
assembly line in Cincinnati; after graduating he worked for
Procter & Gamble The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/consumer hea ...
. He obtained an MBA from
Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA p ...
in 1982 and described business school as "one of the most intense times of your life."


General Electric

Immelt joined GE in 1982, working 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 in 2001.


CEO

Four days after Immelt became CEO, the
September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...
took place which cost GE's insurance business $600 million, killed two employees and directly affected the company's Aircraft Engines sector. After becoming CEO, Immelt offered an expanded set of financial reports in addition to GE's traditional format. Immelt participated actively in mergers and acquisitions, purchasing Amersham PLC for $9.5 billion in 2004 and Alstom's power business for approximately €12.4  billion in 2015. Immelt sold GE's plastics business for $11.6 billion in 2007, NBC Universal for $8 billion in 2013, and GE's appliances business for $3.3 billion in 2014. In 2015, GE announced it would sell its real estate holdings for $26.5 billion and most of GE Capital's assets.


Employment

At the end of 2001 when Immelt replaced Welch, GE employed 219,000 worldwide and 125,000 in the US, as reported in its SEC Form 10K for 2001. GE's SEC Form 10K for 2014 states that worldwide employment is 305,000, and US employment is 136,000. These employment levels have varied significantly under Immelt. General Electric year end employment has varied from 273,000 in 2010 to 305,000 in 2014, a net increase of 37,000. Employment had dropped from 315,000 in 2002 to 307,000 in 2013.


Criticism

During Immelt's tenure as CEO, shares of GE dropped 30%, while the S&P 500 rose by 134%. GE restated its earnings in 2005 and agreed to pay the SEC $50 million to settle allegations of accounting fraud in 2009. GE receiving aid from the Federal Reserve while not paying federal income taxes became a political issue in the 2016 presidential campaign, although GE did pay taxes in other jurisdictions. At the end of 2012, over $100 billion had been kept offshore to avoid a special federal repatriation tax. In 2015, GE announced a repatriation program for part of its cash balances. In 2016, GE moved its headquarters from Connecticut to Massachusetts, citing Connecticut's tax increases. Immelt had an empty private jet following his own private jet, in case there were delays with his primary jet.


Compensation and retirement

Immelt's compensation has fluctuated significantly. As CEO of General Electric in 2007, Immelt earned a total compensation of $14,209,267. In 2008, he earned a total compensation of $5,717,469. In 2009, Immelt earned a total compensation of $5,487,155.
In 2010, Immelt's compensation nearly tripled to $15.2 million. Immelt had a total five year compensation of $53.82 million through 2011, an income which ranked sixth among executives employed by US-based conglomerates. Some components of his total compensation package over the years have been newsworthy. In some years he was granted stock options at $0, and in other years he was paid no bonus. In 2014 his compensation totalled $18.8 million, a decrease from his 2013 compensation of $25.8 million. That 2013 compensation had risen 20% over his 2012 compensation of $20.6 million. On June 12, 2017, GE announced that Immelt would retire as CEO and would be replaced by John L. Flannery. Immelt stepped down in October 2017.


Later career


Uber

Immelt was initially a top candidate to become CEO of
Uber Uber Technologies, Inc. (Uber), based in San Francisco, provides mobility as a service, ride-hailing (allowing users to book a car and driver to transport them in a way similar to a taxi), food delivery (Uber Eats and Postmates), package ...
, replacing founder
Travis Kalanick Travis Cordell Kalanick (; born August 6, 1976) is an American businessman best known as the co-founder and former chief executive officer (CEO) of Uber. Previously he worked for Scour, a peer-to-peer file sharing application company, and was th ...
. He was initially Kalanick's favorite for the post, in part because he was still open to Kalanick still having a significant role. However, Immelt's presentation before the board was poorly received; one director called it "a bad joke," and even Kalanick soured on him. Immelt withdrew from consideration after a director privately told him he had no chance at getting the job.


athenahealth

On February 7, 2018, Immelt became the chairman of the board at
athenahealth Athenahealth (stylized as athenahealth) is a private American company that provides network-enabled services for healthcare and point-of-care mobile apps in the United States. The company was founded in 1997 in San Diego and is now headquarte ...
. Immelt joined the board of directors of
Radiology Partners Radiology ( ) is the medical discipline that uses medical imaging to diagnose diseases and guide their treatment, within the bodies of humans and other animals. It began with radiography (which is why its name has a root referring to radiatio ...
two weeks later. On June 6, 2018, Immelt was named executive chairman of athenahealth. athenahealth was acquired by
Veritas Capital Veritas Capital is a New York-based private-equity firm founded in 1992 that invests in companies providing critical products and services, primarily technology-enabled products and services, to government and commercial customers worldwide. The ...
in 2019.


Tuya Smart

Immelt became a board member of Tuya Smart in September 2019. Immelt attended the
Consumer Electronics Show CES (; formerly an initialism for Consumer Electronics Show) is an annual trade show organized by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA). Held in January at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Winchester, Nevada, United States, the event typi ...
in 2020 on behalf of Tuya Smart.


Built Robotics

On June 30, 2020, Immelt was announced as an advisor to Built Robotics. He joined Eric Sellman, Vice President of Civil at Mortenson, in the role.


Philanthropy


Charitable activities

Immelt serves on the board of two
non-profit organizations A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...
. He was a Charter Trustee of his ''alma mater'', Dartmouth, from 2008 to 2016. He has also served Dartmouth on its Alumni Council and as a class officer. Immelt has spoken about the benefits of football to his career. He announced a series of initiatives with NFL Commissioner Goodell including a GE investment of $40 million to develop diagnostic equipment for use in head trauma injuries, and GE's participation in a separate $20 million effort to develop safer helmets and other equipment. The GE Foundation has been praised for its charitable contributions under Immelt's leadership. Immelt has returned to his hometown High School, Finneytown, to contribute to the Finneytown Schools Education Foundation. The Foundation established the Jeff Immelt Award for leadership in football.


Public service

Immelt served as chairman of
The Business Council The Business Council is an organization of business leaders headquartered in Washington, D.C. Immelt was as a member of the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York from 2006 to 2011. As one of America's top CEOs, Immelt has been a leading proponent of diversity in the work place, saying "If you're serious about ... making the world work better, the only discriminating factor should be excellence. In other words, GE is committed to diversity ... ecausenbsp;... it's the only way to do business right ...
E is E, or e, is the fifth letter and the second vowel letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''e'' (pronounced ); plur ...
committed to employing a diverse workforce with the most innovative minds in the world." Immelt was appointed to the
President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board The President's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, originally the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board (PERAB), was an ad hoc panel of non-governmental experts from business, labor, academia and elsewhere that President of the United State ...
in 2009 and appointed chairman in 2011. The council met four times, ending on January 17, 2012.


Honors

Jeff Immelt has earned significant honors throughout his career, beginning with his graduation from Dartmouth ''cum laude'' and earning the Earl Hamilton Varsity Award, as a college football player, for friendship and character. Later in 2002, he received the Robert Fletcher Award from Dartmouth's Thayer School of Engineering.


Career honors

Barron's has named Immelt one of the "World's Best CEOs" three times; other outlets have criticized his performance. He is a member of The American Academy of Arts & Sciences. The Financial Times named him "Man of the Year" in 2003. Immelt was named to ''Time'' magazine's 100 most influential people in the world in 2009. In 2009, Immelt won the Oslo Business for Peace Award, an award chosen by winners of the 
Nobel Prizes The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfre ...
 in 
Economics Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...
 and 
Peace Peace is a concept of societal friendship and harmony in the absence of hostility and violence. In a social sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (such as war) and freedom from fear of violence between individuals or groups. ...
 and given to leaders in the private sector who have demonstrated transformative and positive change through ethical business practices. Immelt was awarded the 2014 American Football Coaches Association Tuss McLaughry Award, given to a distinguished American (or Americans) for the highest distinction in service to others. In accepting the award, he said "I am a product of football and I owe a great debt of gratitude to that system. What I learned playing football enters my life every day." In April 2015, Immelt won the 20th edition of the Leonardo International Prize "as a foreigner who reinforced his country's cultural and economic ties with Italy." On 24 December 2015, Immelt was listed by UK-based company Richtopia at number 50 in the list of 500 Most Influential CEOs. In 2017, Immelt was honored with an
Edison Achievement Award Edison Awards is an American company that runs an annual competition honoring excellence in innovation in a broad range of categories. Company The Edison Awards were established by the American Marketing Association in 1987 and has been an in ...
for his commitment to innovation throughout his career.


Personal life

Immelt is married to his wife Andrea and they have one daughter, Sarah. They lived in
New Canaan, Connecticut New Canaan () is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 20,622 according to the 2020 census. About an hour from Manhattan by train, the town is considered part of Connecticut's Gold Coast. The town is bounde ...
, until 2015. They then purchased a home in Boston.Madeline Billis
"General Electric’s CEO Bought a Home in Boston"
''
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
'', May 6, 2016.


References


Further reading

* David Magee, 2009, ''Jeff Immelt and the New GE Way: Innovation, Transformation, and Winning in the 21st Century'', McGraw-Hill Professional.
''The Immelt Revolution, businessweek, 2005''


External links



Executive Bio and Photo
September 2009 speech by Immelt regarding GE Healthcare

Leading Questions: GE's Jeff Immelt
Interview with BBC Business * , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Immelt, Jeffrey 1956 births Dartmouth Big Green football players General Electric people Harvard Business School alumni Living people Obama administration personnel Businesspeople from Cincinnati General Electric chief executive officers