Jack Welch

John Francis Welch Jr., known as Jack Welch (1935 to 2020), was an American business executive who was chairman and CEO of General Electric between 1981 and 2001. Born in Peabody, Massachusetts, the only child of a railroad conductor, he earned a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a master's degree and PhD at the University of Illinois, joined GE in 1960 and by 1968 headed its plastics division. During his tenure GE's market value grew from 14 billion dollars to 600 billion dollars, GE acquired RCA in 1986 and expanded into financial services through GE Capital, and he restructured the company so that each business unit had to rank first or second in its market. His legacy has also drawn scrutiny, notably for GE's dependence on financial services before GE Capital collapsed in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.