Who Is Jeffrey Immelt? General Electric CEO Retires, John Flannery To Take Over Role In August

General Electric (GE) announced Monday that Jeffrey Immelt, 61, would retire as CEO and would be replaced by John Flannery, the head of GE healthcare, according to a years-long succession plan. Immelt succeeded former CEO Jack Welch on Sept. 7, 2001, four days before the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and led the company through its aftermath and also through the 2008 financial crisis.

"GE (NYSE: GE) announced today that John Flannery, current President and CEO of GE Healthcare, has been named CEO of the company by the GE Board of Directors effective Aug. 1, 2017 and Chairman and CEO effective Jan. 1, 2018. Jeff Immelt, Chairman and CEO, will remain Chairman of the Board through his retirement from the company on Dec. 31, 2017," the official press release announced.

According to reports, Flannery said in a statement: "Today's announcement is the greatest honor of my career... I am privileged to have spent the last 16 years at the company working for Jeff, one of the greatest business leaders of our time."

Immelt has held "several global leadership" positions since he joined GE in 1982, including roles in the company's plastics, appliances, and healthcare businesses. In 1989, he became an executive officer at the company and joined the GE Capital Board in 1997, according to Immelt's biography on GE website.

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Immelt has also been named one of the "World's Best CEOs" thrice by Barron's, a weekly newspaper published by Dow Jones & Company. Since the time he began serving as CEO, GE has been named "America's Most Admired Company" in a poll conducted by Fortune magazine and also one of "The World's Most Respected Companies" in polls by Barron's and the Financial Times, according to company's website.

Immelt is credited with leading a successful transformation of GE into a simpler, stronger and more focused digital industrial portfolio aligned to key markets such as power, aviation, transportation, healthcare and oil & gas. Under his long-term strategic vision, the company made bold portfolio moves in the last decade.

“Jeff has positioned the company incredibly well for the future," USA Today reported citing a statement of Jack Brennan, lead independent director on GE's board. "He executed a massive portfolio transformation and navigated the company through economic cycles and business disruptions. Today, GE is a high-tech industrial company with a bright future," Brennan added.

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Immelt earned an undergraduate degree in applied mathematics from Dartmouth College in 1978 and an MBA from Harvard University in 1982. He and his wife, Andrea, have one daughter, Sarah.

He was also the chair of Council on Jobs and Competitiveness during the tenure of former President Barack Obama. The council was created to provide non-partisan advice to the president on strengthening the nation's economy and ensure the competitiveness of the U.S. It also formulated ways to create jobs, opportunity, and prosperity for the American people.