GE Capital CEO Keith Sherin, a 35-Year GE Veteran, to Retire -- Update
31 August 2016 - 2:22AM
Dow Jones News
By Ted Mann and Joshua Jamerson
Keith Sherin, who helped steer General Electric Co. through the
depths of the financial crisis and then shrank the company's
massive lending business, is retiring after 35 years at the
company.
GE said the 57-year-old finance executive will step aside as
chief executive of GE Capital on Sept. 1 and retire from the
conglomerate on Dec. 31. He will be succeeded by one of his
lieutenants.
In an email to employees Tuesday, GE CEO Jeff Immelt praised Mr.
Sherin as a humble, steadying hand during a period of profound
turmoil at the company.
"He could juggle 10 balls at once," Mr. Immelt wrote. "I could
trust him with any task, large or small... He was equally
comfortable in the boardroom as he was on the factory floor."
Mr. Sherin worked his way up the ranks and served 15 years as
the company's chief financial officer, beginning under former CEO
Jack Welch. Since 2013, he has been head of GE Capital, the
once-massive lending unit that had been a huge driver of
profitability under Mr. Welch, but transformed into a millstone for
Mr. Immelt during the financial crisis.
The dismantling of most of GE Capital, which began in earnest in
the spring of 2015, has been Mr. Sherin's job, and one in which he
has won plaudits from fellow GE executives, as well as Wall Street
analysts. GE has beaten its initial timeline for selling off
roughly $200 billion worth of finance assets by roughly a year.
GE Capital received clearance from the Federal Reserve to shed
its designation as a systemically important financial institution
in June, exiting the supervision by teams of Fed banking regulators
that had been a significant headache for the company throughout Mr.
Sherin's tenure.
Richard Laxer, the head of GE Capital's international
operations, will succeed Mr. Sherin as CEO of the remaining GE
Capital business Sept. 1. Mr. Laxer will report to GE's finance
chief Jeffrey Bornstein. The board is expected to elect Mr. Laxer
as chairman next week, succeeding Mr. Sherin, who will remain an
adviser until year's end.
Mr. Laxer, 55, started out in GE's financial management program
in 1984 and has led GE Capital's international operations since
2009.
The company said GE Capital will operate under three segments:
GE Capital Aviation Services, GE Energy Financial Services and GE
Industrial Finance.
Write to Ted Mann at ted.mann@wsj.com and Joshua Jamerson at
joshua.jamerson@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 30, 2016 12:07 ET (16:07 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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