Harold Francis Smiddy (June 3, 1900 – 8 September 1978) was an American engineer, business manager, and management consultant, known as the 17th president 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 ...

,Bradley Bowden, David Lamond (2015), ''Management History: Its Global Past & Present.'' p. 174 and recipient of the Henry Laurence Gantt Medal in 1957.

Live and work

Youth, education and early career

Smiddy was born in 1900 in Southborough, Massachusetts to William Smiddy and Catherine E. (Eagan) Smiddy. After attending Peters High School from 1912 to 1916, he obtained his BSc from the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

in the 1920.''Who's who in Finance and Industry,'' 1963. p. 1149 Smiddy started his career in industry as engineer in training at the engineer in training Public Service Electrical Company in Newark. New Jersey, now part of

PSE&G The Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG) is a publicly traded diversified energy company headquartered in Newark, New Jersey and was established in 1985 with a legacy dating back to 1903. The company's largest subsidiary is Public Service Elect ...

, in the year 1920–21. In 1921 he joined the West Penn Power Corporation in Pittsburgh, now part of

FirstEnergy FirstEnergy Corp is an electric utility headquartered in Akron, Ohio. It was established when Ohio Edison acquired Centerior Energy in 1997. Its subsidiaries and affiliates are involved in the distribution, transmission, and generation of electri ...

[where in the next nine years he climbed up from service engineer, assistant distribution engineer, assistant to the commercial manager and assistant to the r.p., to operating manager. In 1930 Smiddy joined the Electric Bond and Share Company in New York, a holding company that sold securities of electric utilities created by General Electric in 1905. Here he was vice president of the operating department for a year, assistant to the executive for two years, and head of the commercial department for another two years. After the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 the company was restructured to the Ebasco Services, Inc., and he served another two years as head of its sales department.

Further career

In 1937 Smiddy joined the Central Region corporation, where he was operation sponsor for three years, chief operating sponsor for a year, and head of the operation department and director for another year. In 1943 he joined

Booz, Allen & Hamilton Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation (informally Booz Allen) is the parent of Booz Allen Hamilton Inc., an American management and information technology consulting firm, headquartered in McLean, Virginia, in Greater Washington, D.C., with 8 ...

, where he started as consulting engineer, and was general partner from 1943 to 1948. In 1948 he joined the president's staff of

(GE) in New York, and was general manager at GE's chemical department in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. From 1948 to 1951 he was general manager at GE's air conditioning department in Bloomfield, New York. He eventually became vice-president and then the 17th president of General Electric Company. In 1957 the American Management Association and the ASME awarded Smiddy the annual Henry Laurence Gantt Medal. In 1958 he received the

Wallace Clark Award The Wallace Clark Award or Wallace Clark Medal is a former management award for Distinguished Contribution to Scientific Management, named after Henry Wallace Clark (1880-1948). The Wallace Clark Award was established in 1949 and was sponsored by t ...

, and in 1961 he was awarded an honorary LL.D. from

Ithaca College Ithaca College is a private college in Ithaca, New York. It was founded by William Egbert in 1892 as a conservatory of music and is set against the backdrop of the city of Ithaca (which is separate from the town), Cayuga Lake, waterfalls, and go ...

. In 1962 he was elected President of the

Academy of Management The Academy of Management is a professional association for scholars of management and organizations that was established in 1936. It publishes several academic journals, organizes conferences, and provides others forums for management professors ...

Selected publications

* Harold F. Smiddy. ''Managerial progress in the sixties,'' 1970. * Greenwood, Ronald G., Harold F. Smiddy, and Melvin Zimet. ''The evolving science of management: The collected papers of Harold Smiddy and papers by others in his honor.'' New York: AMACOM, 1979. ; Articles, a selection * Smiddy, Harold F., and Lionel Naum. "Evolution of a “science of managing” in America." ''Management Science'' 1.1 (1954): 1-31. * Smiddy, Harold F. "General Electric's Philosophy and Approach for Manager Development." ''American Management Association,'' 1955. * Smiddy, Harold F. "Integrating and Motivating for Effective Performance." ''Management Consultation Services,'' General Electric, 1955. * Smiddy, Harold F. "Managerial Decision-Making." ''Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine'' 1.3 (1959): 190. * Smiddy, Harold F.
Deciding
" In: Maynard, Harold B. ed. ''Top management handbook,'' New York,: MaGraw-Hill, 1960. p. 267-300 * Smiddy, Harold F. "Planning, Anticipating and Managing." ''Management Science'' 2 (1964): 83–91.

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