Jeffrey Immelt, Chairman and CEO of General Electric, will kick off West Virginia University’s 2012-13 David C. Hardesty Jr. Festival of Ideas with his talk, “Globalization and the Lessons of Leadership,” on Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2012 at 7:30 p.m. in the Lyell B. Clay Concert Theatre at the Creative Arts Center.

Immelt will speak on the WVU campus as part of the Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources Glen H. Hiner Distinguished Lecture Series. The event, which helps to celebrate 125 years of engineering at WVU, is free and open to the public and University community.

Immelt is the ninth chairman of GE, a post he has held since Sept. 7, 2001. He has held several global leadership positions since coming to GE in 1982, including roles in the company’s plastics, appliance and healthcare businesses. In 1989 he became an officer of the company, joining the GE Capital Board in 1997. He was appointed president and chief executive officer in 2000.

Immelt has been named one of the “World’s Best CEOs” three times by Barron’s. Since he began serving as CEO, GE has been named both “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.

He is currently the chair of President Obama’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness. He is also a member of The Business Council.

Immelt earned a Bachelor of Arts in applied mathematics from Dartmouth College in 1978 and an Master of Business Administration from Harvard University in 1982. He and his wife, Andrea, have one daughter.

For those who cannot attend the lecture, a live webcast of the event will broadcast from http://webcast.wvu.edu.

A full schedule of Festival of Ideas events will be available in the coming weeks, and will be found at http://festivalofideas.wvu.edu/

-WVU-

ld/08/27/12

CONTACT: Liz Dickinson, Office of University Events
304-293-8025, liz.dickinson@mail.wvu.edu

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