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General Electric Company (GE) Company Profile

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Corporate Headquarter of General Electric Company (GE)

General Electric Company
3135 Easton Turnpike
Fairfield,  CT 06828-0001
United States
General Contact:  +1 203 373 2211
Website

The Schenectady Museum
This museum maintains an archive of historical GE information and photography in its Hall of History.

Hall of Electrical History
15 Nott Terrace Heights
Schenectady, New York 12308
+1 518 382 7890

Background and Company History of General Electric Company

GE Background

GE is a diversified infrastructure, finance and media company taking on the world’s toughest challenges.  The company was founded in Schenectady, New York by four founders: Thomas Alva Edison, namely, Elihu Thomson, Edwin J. Houston and Charles A. Coffin.

GE traces its beginnings to Thomas A. Edison, who established Edison Electric Light Company in 1878. A merger of Edison General Electric Company and Thomson-Houston Electric Company in 1892 created General Electric Company. GE is the only company listed in the Dow Jones Industrial Index today that was also included in the original index in 1896.

The current chairman and CEO, Jeff Immelt, has been named one of the “World’s Best CEOs” three times by Barron’s.

From aircraft engines and power generation to medical imaging, television programming, financial services, GE operates in more than 100 countries in the regions of Northern Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia & New Zealand, Europe and Middle East/Africa.

GE History

The famous inventor Thomas Alva Edison was as much a brilliant business pioneer. By aligning multiple businesses to bring innovation to the marketplace, he laid the path for today’s General Electric.

In 1876, Thomas Alva Edison opened a laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey, where he could explore the possibilities of the dynamo and other electrical devices. Out of that laboratory was to come perhaps the greatest invention of the age – a successful incandescent electric lamp.  By 1890, Edison established the Edison General Electric Company by bringing his various businesses together.

A competitor also emerged during the period, the Thomson-Houston Company. Thomson-Houston became a dominant electrical innovation company through a series of mergers led by Charles A. Coffin, a former shoe manufacturer from Lynn, Massachusetts. As the businesses of both Edison’s and this company expanded, it became difficult for either of them to produce complete electrical installations relying solely on their own patents and technologies. In 1892, the two companies merged, naming the new company, General Electric Company.

Several of Edison’s early business offerings are still part of GE, including lighting, transportation, industrial products, power transmission, and medical equipment. Thomas Edison’s experiments with plastic filaments for light bulbs in 1893 led to the first GE Plastics department, created in 1930. Through the years, the leaders of GE have built a diverse portfolio of leading and powerful businesses.

GE has a strong global presence in infrastructure, finance and media aligned to meet today’s needs, including the demand for global infrastructure;  growing and changing demographics that need access to healthcare, finance, and information and entertainment; and environmental technologies.

In 2009, GE delivered solid results despite the tough economic climate with earnings of US$11.2 billion. Industrial cash flow from operating activities for the year remained strong at over US$16.6 billion.

Employees total worldwide:  304,000 as of Dec 2009

GE total U.S. Patents:  2,370 filed (2009)

GE Company Team and Board of Directors

Board of Directors

Jeffrey R. Immelt – Chairman of the Board and CEO, GE
W. Geoffrey Beattie – Independent Director
Dr. James I. Cash, Jr. – Independent Director
Sir William Castell – Independent Director
Ann M. Fudge – Independent Director
Dr. Susan Hockfield – Independent Director
Andrea Jung – Independent Director
Alan G. Lafley – Independent Director
Robert W. Lane – Independent Director
Ralph S. Larsen – Independent Director
Rochelle B. Lazarus – Independent Director
James J. Mulva – Independent Director
Sam Nunn – Independent Director
Roger S. Penske – Material Relationship with GE
Robert J. Swieringa – Independent Director
James S. Tisch – Independent Director
Douglas A. Warner III – Independent Director

Corporate Executives

Ferdinando “Nani” Beccalli-FalcoPresident and CEO International
Charlene Begley – Senior Vice President GE President and CEO GE Home & Business Solutions
Kathryn A. Cassidy – Senior Vice President and Treasurer GE & GE Capital
Beth Comstock – Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer GE
Pamela Daley – Senior Vice President GE Corporate Business Development
Brackett B. Denniston III – Senior Vice President and General Counsel GE
Alex Dimitrief – Vice President and Senior Counsel Litigation and Legal Policy GE
Shane Fitzsimons – Vice President GE Corporate Financial Planning and Analysis
Yoshiaki Fujimori – Senior Vice President GE President and CEO GE Japan Corporation
Jeffrey R. Immelt – Chairman and CEO GE
Mark J. Krakowiak – Vice President and Chief Risk Officer GE
John Krenicki, Jr. – Vice Chairman GE President and CEO GE Energy
Mark M. Little – Senior Vice President and Director GE Global Research
John Lynch – Senior Vice President GE Corporate Human Resources
Michael A. Neal – Chairman and CEO GE CapitalVice Chairman GE
Susan P. Peters – Vice President, Executive Development and Chief Learning Officer GE
John G. Rice – Vice Chairman GE President and CEO GE Technology Infrastructure
John Samuels – Vice President and Senior Counsel, Tax Policy and Planning GE
Trevor A. Schauenberg – Vice President Corporate Investor Communications GE
Keith S. Sherin – Vice Chairman GE Chief Financial Officer GE
Brian Worrell – Vice President GE Corporate Audit Staff

Business Executives

Mark W. Begor – President and CEO GE Capital, Retail Finance & Restructuring Operations
Steve Bolze – Senior Vice President GE President and CEO GE Power & Water
Jeffrey S. Bornstein – Senior Vice President GE Chief Financial Officer GE Capital
Lynn Calpeter – Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer NBC Universal
James P. Campbell – President and CEO GE Appliances & Lighting
William H. Cary – Senior Vice President General Electric Company Chief Operating Officer GE Capital
John Dineen – President and CEO GE Healthcare
John J. Falconi – Senior Vice President GE Chief Financial Officer GE Technology Infrastructure
John L. Flannery – President and CEO GE India
Jeff Gaspin – President and Chief Operating Officer Universal Television Group
Daniel C. Heintzelman – President and CEO GE Energy Services
Dan Henson – President and CEO GE Capital, Americas
Jay Ireland – President and CEO GE Asset Management
Omar S. Ishrak – President and CEO GE Healthcare Systems
Daniel Janki – Vice President and CFO GE Energy
David L. Joyce – Senior Vice President GE President and CEO GE Aviation
Richard A. Laxer – President and CEO GE Capital, EMEA
Jamie S. Miller – Vice President and Controller GE
Ronald R. Pressman – President and CEO GE Capital Real Estate
Claudi Santiago – President and CEO GE Oil and Gas
Lorenzo Simonelli – President and CEO GE Transportation
Dmitri Stockton – President and CEO GE Capital, Global Banking
Jeff Zucker – President and CEO NBC Universal

Products and Services of GE Company

Appliances

Aviation

Consumer Electronics

Electrical Distribution

Energy

Finance (Business and Consumer)

Firearms

Healthcare

Lighting

Media and Entertainment

Rail and Locomotives

Software and Services

Water including water treatment chemicals

GE Subsidiaries

GE Energy
GE Technology Infrastructure
GE Capital

  • Aviation Financial Services
  • Commercial Finance
  • Energy Financial Services
  • GE Money – Global and U.S.

NBC Universal
GE Home and Business Solutions

GE applies its long-standing spirit of innovation to take on challenges. Some of their signature programs include Developing Health Globally™ and Developing Futures™, each representing a $130-million commitment to making a lasting impact in the communities. In 2009, they introduced a new signature program, Developing Health, which aims to address the disparities in quality and access of healthcare in underserved communities in the U.S.  Resource on this philanthropy efforts:  GE Foundation

Resources about GE Corporation

GE Company website

GE annual SEC income statement filing

General Electric (GE) annual SEC balance sheet filing

GE Company Fact Sheet

Resource by

Tel Asiado is a writer, author, and business consultant, previously, IT manager & consultant. Her articles reflect her interests, from small business, biographies & histories, to classical music especially Mozart, art & literature, biographies, and Christian writings. Tel has produced non-fictions, e-books and anthologies. Her education is MBA in Computer Management, BSc Chemistry, Diploma in Small Business & Internet Mktg, and Cert IV Training and Assessment (TAA). Her small office/home site is homebizideasnow.com, and numerous information of Mozart and classical music, mozartandclassicalmusic.com.

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