Jeffrey Immelt is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of General Electric (GE). At age 32, Mr. Immelt became the youngest CEO in history to lead a major Fortune 500 company. A native of Boston, Massachusetts, Mr
Immelt graduated from Harvard University, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, with an undergraduate degree in economics and government. He received his J.D. from Harvard Law School, where he was named the top student in his class.
His first job after law school was as a clerk for Supreme Court Justice Byron White. Following the Supreme Court clerkship, he joined McKinsey & Company, an international management consulting firm, where he rose through the ranks to become a partner in 1983. In 1990, President George H.
W. Bush nominated him to be Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs and he served in that position until 1993. In 1993, President Bill Clinton appointed him Director of the U.S.
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) where he served during a difficult period for the federal government's fiscal health and budgeting responsibilities. In 1994, President Clinton nominated him to lead GE Capital, where he successfully restructured GE Capital to improve its financial performance and helped GE become one of the world's leading finance companies with a significant presence in every major region of the world. In 1999 Mr.
Immelt was appointed by President Bill Clinton as Deputy Secretary of Transportation for Policy and Planning at the Department of Transportation (DOT), where he oversaw transportation policy development and helped move forward critical initiatives under President Clinton's leadership including safety-focused initiatives such as "Back to Back," which focused on advancing safety improvements in rail safety across multiple modes of transportation; reorganization of DOT's safety programs under a new Office of Safety at DOT; creation of a National Transportation Safety Board; creation of an Office for Freight Management at DOT; formation of CDL Commissioner's Task Force; establishment and implementation of program integrity programs; establishment and implementation of trucking programs; establishment and implementation effects program oversight programs; establishment and support for highway-rail grade crossing improvements; establishment and support for freight operations research studies; establishment and support for operations research studies; establishment and support for aging highway infrastructure programs; establishment and support for air traffic control modernization program evaluation; establishment and administration of highway safety grants program under Federal Highway Administration (FHWA); establishing an administration within FHWA that coordinates tollway programs; creation of a National Rail Systems performance improvement initiative; creation out NHTSA
Leadership is an intense journey into yourself. You can use your own style to get anything done. It's about being self-aware. Every morning, I look in the mirror and say, 'I could have done three things better yesterday.'Jeffrey R. Immelt
I have learned that nothing is certain except for the need to have strong risk management, a lot of cash, the willingness to invest even when the future is unclear, and great people.Jeffrey R. Immelt
