Born on February 19, 1956 in Cincinnati, Jeffrey Robert “Jeff” Immelt is the present chairman of the board and CEO of the US-based conglomerate General Electric (GE). Jeffrey Immelt was chosen by GE’s board of directors in 2000 to replace John Francis Welch, Jr. He holds a Bachelor’s degree major in Applied Mathematics from Dartmouth College, where he currently serves on the board of trustees. While at Dartmouth, he was president of the Phi Delta Alpha fraternity. He later finished his Masters in Business Administration (MBA) at the Harvard Business School.

Jeffrey Immelt has been with GE since 1982 and is on the board of two non-profit organizations. One of these groups is the Robin Hood Foundation, a charitable organization that attempts to alleviate problems caused by poverty in New York City.

His term as CEO and chairman started on September 7, 2001 –- four days prior to the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Jeffrey R. Immelt has been named one of the “World’s Best CEOs” three times by Barron’s. Since he began serving as chief executive officer, GE has been named “America’s Most Admired Company” in a poll conducted by Fortune Magazine, and one of “The World’s Most Respected Companies” in polls by Barron’s and the Financial Times.
Jeffrey Immelt was named to Time Magazine’s Time 100 Most Influential People in the world in 2008.

In February 2009, Jeffrey Immelt was chosen as part of President Barack Obama’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board. The board offers the president and his administration guidance and counseling in fixing America’s economic slump. In addition to this, Jeffrey Immelt also spends his time as a Dartmouth College trustee and a director for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

In 2007, Jeffrey Immelt, through an interview with Fast Company, came up with a list of “Things Leaders Do.” One of the important items on the list was “personal responsibility,” something that the GE leader really practices and believes in.