GE anoints Jeffrey Immelt as next CEO

It has been one of the most closely followed succession races, with everyone in the global corporate world waging a bet on the next incumbent. The race being talked about is the successor to the legendary Mr. John "Jack" Welch, the chairman and chief executive of manufacturing conglomerate General Electric, who is to retire by end of next year. Mr. Welch's retirement was earlier scheduled for end of this year, but has been delayed so that he can oversee the company's upcoming merger with Honeywell.

This has been one of the most coveted, yet feared, corporate jobs in the world. Coveted, because it gives the incoming incumbent charge of the world's most profitable, successful and widely diversified conglomerate. Feared, because the it would involve stepping into the gigantic shoes of a man who has been deified by the corporate world for his executive abilities and who has won the title of "most admired chief executive" many times in his long career.

And the man who has been chosen to fill the gap when Mr. Welch retires, is 44-year old Mr. Jeffrey Immelt, who has been the president and chief executive of GE's Medical Systems business. Mr. Immelt has been named president and chairman-elect with immediate effect. Mr. Immelt, a GE veteran as was his father before him, becomes the youngest person to take over as chief executive. But the announcement did not surprise most people, especially analysts, who had already bet on his getting the top job.

The appointment effectively ends the speculation on who will succeed Mr. Welch. Besides Mr. Immelt, the other contenders for the top post were Mr. Robert Nardelli, president and chief executive of GE Power Systems and Mr. James McNerney, head of GE Aircraft Engines.

Having joined the company in 1982, the 6-foot-4-inch Immelt is said to possess the commanding physical presence of a college football player and yet have a keen intellectual strength necessary to inspire management and workers at GE.

Mr. Immelt sure has a tough act to follow. Under Mr. Welch's  leadership the conglomerate has been going from strength to strength. Mr. Welch, who shook up the company's management structure when he took over twenty years ago, is credited with transforming GE, a company once best-known for light bulbs and appliances, into an empire with operations in aircraft engines, entertainment, financial services and more. In his 20 years as chairman, profits have risen to $10.7 billion in 1999 from $1.6 billion when he took over.