People Who Changed the World in Business

Jack Welch

He is an American chemical engineer, business executive and author and worked as the Chairman and CEO of General Electric between 1981 and 2001. When Welch worked at GE the company’s value rose and was the most valuable company in the world for a time. In 2006 his net worth was estimated as $720 million. Ina speech made by him in New York City he said, “Growing fast in a slow growth economy”, which is acknowledged as the “dawn” of the obsession with shareholder value in 1981. In 1995 he underwent triple bypass surgery. Welch gave his name to Sacred Heart University’s College of Business, which is known as John F. Welch College of Business in 2006. He was teaching a group of 30 MBA about leadership at MIT Sloan School of Management. Welch was also a global warming skeptic. In 2009 Jack Welch Management Institute at Chancellor University in Ohio was founded.