Diversified conglomerate General Electric Co. (GE) on Wednesday named three veteran executives to leadership positions, including the appointment of Dan Heintzelman as vice chairman of GE. The company expects the appointments to strengthen its industrial businesses.
Fairfield, Connecticut-based GE named Lorenzo Simonelli, who currently leads GE Transportation, to succeed Heintzelman as president and CEO of GE Oil & Gas. Russell Stokes will succeed Simonelli as president and CEO of GE Transportation. All the three appointments are effective October 1, 2013.
Heintzelman, aged 56, has served as president & CEO of GE Oil & Gas since 2011. Prior to that, he was president & CEO of GE Energy Services. Previously, he led services at GE Energy and GE Aircraft Engines. Heintzelman joined GE in 1979 and was appointed a GE company officer in 2000.
Jeffrey Immelt, CEO of GE said, "In his 34 years at GE, Dan has led some of our largest high-technology services and manufacturing teams. He will work across GE's industrial business to further strengthen our services, advanced manufacturing and product development capabilities."
Simonelli, aged 40, is a 19-year company veteran and has been president and CEO of GE Transportation since 2008. He joined GE in 1994 and is a graduate of GE's Financial Management Program. Simonelli served as CFO Americas for Consumer & Industrial, and has held leadership positions for Appliances, Lighting, Electrical Distribution and Motors.
Stokes, aged 42, will succeed Simonelli as president & CEO of GE Transportation. A 16-year GE veteran, Stokes most recently served as vice president of Global Services at Transportation. Previously, he was GM for GE Aviation's Global Sourcing Organization and has held finance, risk and business development roles in Aviation and Lighting. He was named a company officer in 2012.
GE, in June, said it appointed long-time chief financial officer Keith Sherin as chairman and CEO of the company's finance arm GE Capital. The appointment of Sherin put a veteran executive in charge of GE Capital as it prepares to face greater regulatory oversight.
GE's CEO Immelt has shrunk GE Capital by about one-third, but the unit still accounted for about 46 percent of GE's earnings from continuing operations last year.
Immelt has pledged to further reduce the size of the financing business by selling or spinning off more assets. Investors have been pressing GE to shrink GE Capital in the wake of the financial crisis, and instead focus on expanding the company's industrial businesses.
In July, GE reported a profit for the second quarter that edged up from last year, reflecting a smaller loss from discontinued operations. The company's net earnings for the quarter were $3.13 billion or $0.30 per share, edging up from $3.11 billion or $0.29 per share in the prior-year quarter. Total revenues and other income for the quarter declined 4 percent to $35.12 billion from $36.40 billion in the same quarter last year.
At that time, GE noted that profit grew in six of its seven industrial businesses. The strength of industrial portfolio was underscored by double-digit segment profit increases in oil & gas, aviation and transportation.
In Wednesday's regular trading session, GE is trading at $24.56, up $0.11 or 0.44 percent on a volume of 3.11 million shares.
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