LOUISVILLE, KY. —
GE appliance
and lighting chief Jim Campbell
will retire after 30 years with
the company on Dec. 31, to be
succeeded in majaps by GE aviation
exec Charles “Chip” Blankenship.
Blankenship previously served
as VP/general manager for GE
Aviation’s commercial engines operation.
He joined GE in 1992 as a
staff scientist at the Global Research Center, and later
served as general manager for Aero Energy, a division
of GE Energy.
In his new role as president/CEO of GE Appliances,
he is expected to extend the appliance division’s recent
entry into home energy management products
and services. He reports to Charlene Begley, president/
CEO of GE Home & Business Solutions.
“Chip brings a wealth of business leadership and
program and product management expertise” to his
new role, Begley said. “We see tremendous opportunity
to leverage his background and look forward to
growth under his leadership.”
Campbell joined GE in 1981 as a Northeast region
sales/marketing trainee for GE Appliances. By 1992
he relocated to corporate headquarters, here, to lead
the division’s marketing, sales and product management
organizations. He was appointed sales and marketing
VP and a GE company officer in 1999, and two
years later was named president/CEO of GE Appliances.
A corporate senior VP, Campbell later served as
president/CEO of GE Consumer Products and GE
Consumer & Industrial.
Over the last three years he presided over a $1 billion
re-investment in domestic majap infrastructure,
renegotiated terms with his factory workforce, and
secured government tax incentives to bring much of
the division’s R&D and production
back to the U.S. as it prepares for
a new generation of “smart” appliances.
“It is with immense gratitude
that we’d like to recognize Jim for
his dedicated service to GE,” Begley
said. “In his three decades of
service to our company, Jim has
distinguished himself as a leader
known for his passionate focus on
the customer and his employee
development and advocacy.”
