Leadership : Our Company : GE
Jay Ireland, a 31-year GE veteran, is the new President and CEO of GE Africa appointed March 15th 2011. He is a GE officer and a member of GE's Corporate Executive Council
In a clear sign of its intentions in Africa, John Rice, President and CEO of GE Global Growth and Operations, said the new role was aimed to "help to grow our presence and businesses in sub-Saharan Africa, which we believe offers strong potential for long-term growth. GE is poised to accelerate growth through a wide range of solutions that will support Africa's rapid infrastructure transformation across northern and sub-Saharan Africa."
Since 2007, Ireland, 56, has led GE Asset Management, a global investment firm with about US$120 billion in assets under management, including portfolios for institutional investors around the world as well those of GE's US employee pension and benefits plans. Ireland also oversaw the firm's management, distribution and servicing efforts for an array of mutual funds serving several hundred thousand individual investors' needs.
Prior to GEAM, Ireland was President of NBC Universal Television Stations and Network Operations. In this role, he had overall executive responsibility for NBC Universal's 10 television stations, the Telemundo network and its 16 Spanish language television stations, domestic first-run syndication, affiliate relations, and Network Operations. Before joining NBC in 1999, he had been the CFO of GE Plastics.
After three years as an U.S. Army Officer, Ireland started his career with General Electric in 1980 in the Financial Management Program in Lynchburg, Virginia. He became a member of the Corporate Audit Staff, and in 1988 joined GE Plastics where he held several financial and product management assignments. In 1990, Ireland was named managing director of Polymerland-Europe, a plastics distribution company. In March 1993, he was named Manager, Corporate Investor Communications, and was appointed Vice President, Corporate Audit Staff in May 1995.
Ireland is a Trustee of the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, a member of the board of the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation, and a Trustee of St. Lawrence University, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1977. He and his wife have two children.