Ralph Jarron Cordiner (March 20, 1900 - December 5, 1973) was an American businessman.
/ref> He served as 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 en ...

from 1950 to 1958, and as its chairman and chief executive officer from 1958 to 1963.BusinessWeek
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Biography

He was born in 1900 on a 1280-acre wheat farm in

Walla Walla, Washington Walla Walla is a city in Walla Walla County, Washington, where it is the largest city and county seat. It had a population of 34,060 at the 2020 census, estimated to have decreased to 33,927 as of 2021. The population of the city and its two su ...

. He attended

Whitman College Whitman College is a private liberal arts college in Walla Walla, Washington. The school offers 53 majors and 33 minors in the liberal arts and sciences, and it has a student-to-faculty ratio of 9:1. Whitman was the first college in the Pacific ...

, working odd jobs and selling washing machines, and graduated in 1922 with a Bachelor of Science in Economics. He joined the Edison General Electric Appliance Company, a GE affiliate, in 1923. Later, he became manager of its Northwest and Ocean Pacific divisions. From 1932 to 1938, he worked in its Bridgeport, Connecticut office. In 1939, he left GE and served as president of Schick until 1942. He returned to GE and worked as Charles E. Wilson's assistant. In 1950, he became president of GE, up until 1958. From 1958 to 1963, he served as chairman and CEO. During his tenure, he

decentralized Decentralization or decentralisation is the process by which the activities of an organization, particularly those regarding planning and decision making, are distributed or delegated away from a central, authoritative location or group. Conce ...

GE into 120 units. He served as chairman of the Defense Advisory Committee on Professional and Technical Compensation in the Armed Forces. He also served as chairman of

The Business Council The Business Council is an organization of business leaders headquartered in Washington, D.C.Time Magazine ''Time'' (stylized in all caps) is an American news magazine based in New York City. For nearly a century, it was published weekly, but starting in March 2020 it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York City on Ma ...

'' on January 12, 1959.Time Magazine
/ref> He was the recipient of the first Gold Medal Award of the

Economic Club of New York The Economic Club of New York is a U.S. nonprofit and non-partisan membership organization dedicated to promoting the study and discussion of social, economic and political questions. History Founded in 1907, the Economic Club of New York is t ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cordiner, Ralph J. People from Walla Walla, Washington Whitman College alumni American businesspeople General Electric people 1900 births Year of death missing Henry Laurence Gantt Medal recipients General Electric chief executive officers