GE Citizenship

Board/Senior Executive Accountability

The GE Board of Directors and the GE Risk Committee play vital roles in the oversight and management of the company. From this senior leadership GE expects involvement, objectivity and accountability.

The primary role of the GE Board of Directors is to oversee how management serves the interests of shareowners and other stakeholders. To do this, GE Directors have adopted corporate governance principles aimed at ensuring that the Board is independent and fully informed on the key risks and strategic issues facing GE. GE has met its goal to have two-thirds of its Board be independent under a strict definition of independence. Today, 13 of 16 GE Directors are independent.

The GE Board held 22 meetings in 2008, and each outside Board member visited at least two GE businesses without the involvement of corporate management, in order to develop his or her own feel for the Company. The Board focuses on the areas that are important to shareowners — strategy, risk management, leadership development, and regulatory matters — and in 2008, received briefings on a variety of issues including U.S. and global tax policy, environmental risk management, healthcare costs, liquidity and credit risk, global project and product execution, CSA portfolio management and commitment, the impact of changing public policy on core markets around the world, and privacy and copyright protection. At the end of the year, the Board and each of its committees conducted a thorough self-evaluation.

For more information on compensation decisions and incentives, please refer to the GE 2009 Annual Meeting and Proxy Statement available on the 2008 GE Annual Report web site.

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