Jeffrey R. Immelt ~ Celebrity

Jeffrey Robert "Jeff" Immelt (born February 19, 1956) is the current chairman of the board andchief 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 (now known as GE Healthcare) as its President and CEO.

Life and career

Immelt was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, the son of Donna Rosemary (née Wallace), a school teacher, and Joseph Francis Immelt, who managed the General Electric Aircraft Engines Division.^[2]^[3] Immelt attended Finneytown High School. He holds an A.B. in Applied Mathematics from Dartmouth College where he currently serves on the board of trustees^[4] and was president of his fraternity, Phi Delta Alpha, and 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.

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 was named to Time magazine's 100 most influential people in the world in 2008.^[5] He was also named one of the five worst Non-Financial-Crisis-Related CEOs of 2008 by the Free Enterprise Action Fund.^[6] Since taking over, GE's stock has dropped nearly 60%. In February 2009, Immelt was appointed as a member to the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Boardto provide the president and his administration with advice and counsel in fixing America's economic downturn.^[7] Recently, Immelt has been criticized by Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reillyfor business transactions between GE and Iran, the country which has reportedly been attacking U.S. forces in Iraq.^[8] However, GE's website claims that they stopped doing business in Iran in 2005 (and finished all contracts by 2008).^[9]

According to documents filed with the Federal Elections Commission, Immelt lives with his wife Andrea in New Canaan, Connecticut.

[edit]Compensation

Immelt at U.S. Climate Action Partnership event in 2007

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.^[10] 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.^[11] 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.^[12]

[edit]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. In his speech, he emphasized the importance of future business opportunities with China and the Far East. He received an honorary Doctor of Laws from Dartmouth, in June 2004.^[13] In the years that followed, Immelt gave the commencement address atNortheastern University (2006), 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 is also acting as commencement speaker on May 23, 2010 at Hamilton College and on May 24, 2010 at Boston College.