Jeff Immelt

Jeffrey Robert Immelt (born February 19, 1956) is an American manufacturing executive and philanthropist currently working as a venture partner at New Enterprise Associates.

Immelt was born on February 19, 1956, in Cincinnati, 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 Secondary Campus.

There he captained the football and basketball teams.

In college he played football and was an offensive tackle.

He earned an A.B. in applied mathematics and economics cum laude from Dartmouth College in 1978.

He was president of his fraternity, Phi Delta Alpha.

During his years at Dartmouth he worked summers on a Ford assembly line in Cincinnati; after graduating he worked for Procter & Gamble, where he shared a cubicle with Steve Ballmer, who went on to become CEO of Microsoft.

He obtained an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1982 and described business school as "one of the most intense times of your life."

He was later offered to work for Morgan Stanley, which he declined.

Instead, he wanted to work for General Electric like his father.

Immelt joined General Electric in 1982, working in GE's plastics, appliances, and healthcare businesses.

He became a GE corporate officer in 1989, joined the GE Capital board in 1997 and took the reins of the corporate leadership of GE Healthcare before assuming his position as CEO in 2001.

Four days after Immelt became CEO, the September 11 attacks took place which cost GE's insurance division $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.

He previously served as the CEO of General Electric from 2001 to 2017, and the CEO of GE's Medical Systems division from 1997 to 2000.

Immelt's tenure saw GE's largest divestments in the company's history, as the company sold almost two-thirds of its subsidiaries and assets.

At the end of 2001 when Immelt replaced Jack Welch, GE employed 219,000 worldwide and 125,000 in the US, as reported in its SEC Form 10K for 2001.

Employment had dropped from 315,000 in 2002 to 307,000 in 2013.

Immelt's executive compensation has fluctuated significantly throughout his managerial career.

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.

GE restated its earnings in 2005 and agreed to pay the SEC $50 million to settle allegations of accounting fraud in 2009.

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.

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.

General Electric year end employment has varied from 273,000 in 2010 to 305,000 in 2014, a net increase of 37,000.

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.

At the end of 2012, over $100 billion had been kept offshore to avoid a special federal repatriation tax.

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.

In 2015, GE announced it would sell its real estate holdings for $26.5 billion and most of GE Capital's assets.

During Immelt's tenure as CEO, the company's financial performance suffered considerably, as shares of GE dropped 30 percent, while the S&P 500 rose by 134% over the same period of time, which had led to suspicions of his managerial competencies to be called into question when running the day-to-day operations of the corporation.

In 2015, GE announced a repatriation program for part of its cash balances.

GE received 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.

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.