GE CEO Immelt ’78 to Speak in Dartmouth’s ‘Leading Voices’ Lecture Series

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Visit the “Leading Voices in Politics and Policy” lecture series website for the most current news and schedule.

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Jeff Immelt ’78 (photo courtesy of Jeff Immelt)

GE CEO and Chairman Jeff Immelt ’78 will deliver the next lecture in this summer’s “Leading Voices in Politics and Policy” series.

Immelt, who has been at GE since 1982 and has led the company since 2001, will speak on Thursday, August 18, at 4:30 p.m., in the Hopkins Center’s Moore Theater. The lecture is free and open to the public.

The new “Leading Voices” series brings national political and policy experts and presidential candidates to Dartmouth and is sponsored by the Office of the President and Nelson A. Rockefeller Center for Public Policy and the Social Sciences at Dartmouth College.

Immelt will speak on energy and the environment. Each lecture addresses a major topic shaping current policy and political debate at the national level. The issues have included the federal deficit, health care reform, public education, financial bailouts, and partisan politics.

Immelt, who is a member of the Dartmouth Board of Trustees, has been named one of the “World’s Best CEOs” three times by Barron’s. Since he began serving as chief executive officer, GE has been named “America’s Most Admired Company” in a poll conducted by Fortune magazine and one of “The World’s Most Respected Companies” in polls by Barron’s and the Financial Times.

Immelt earned an AB in applied mathematics at Dartmouth, and an MBA from Harvard University in 1982.

His speech, along with others in the “Leading Voices” series, will be available for viewing on Dartmouth’s YouTube channel after the lecture.

Previous speakers have included Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner ’83, former Senator Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), Dartmouth President Jim Yong Kim, former U.S. Labor Department Secretary Robert Reich ’68, former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Jr. ’68, and GOP presidential candidates Buddy Roemer, Jon Huntsman Jr., and Gary Johnson.

The final speaker in the series, on August 23, is Frank Newport, editor-in-chief of the Gallup Poll. See the lecture website for complete speaker information.

About the “Leading Voices in Politics and Policy” Lecture Series

The lectures are integrated with a team-taught summer term course called “Contemporary Issues in American Politics and Public Policy,” sponsored by the Rockefeller Center.

“The lectures are an opportunity for students and members of the larger community to share a common intellectual experience,” said Kim. “This course is another way Dartmouth is engaging students in the complexities of the world and bringing a diversity of perspectives to the campus.”

The team-taught course is led by visiting Professor Charles Wheelan ’88, of the Harris School at the University of Chicago. Wheelan, a former member of the Board of Visitors at the Rockefeller Center, has returned to his alma mater each year since 2006 to teach summer courses in economics and public policy.

Also teaching are Andrew Samwick, the Sandra L. and Arthur L. Irving A’72, P’10 Professor of Economics, and director of the Rockefeller Center; Bruce Sacerdote ’90, the Richard S. Braddock 1963 Professor in Economics; Deborah Brooks, associate professor of government; and Dean Lacy, professor of government.

The guest lecturers, in most cases, speak to the class in advance of presenting a public lecture. Several speakers—former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), and Sen. Rob Portman ’78, (R-Ohio)—talked to the class but did not deliver public lectures.

Similar lecture series may be held in future years on topics relevant to a liberal arts education.

The lectures are timed to take advantage of the great opportunity New Hampshire’s presidential primary affords to invite candidates to visit Dartmouth. However, the summer series won’t be the only Dartmouth stop on politicians’ calendars. This fall, Republican presidential candidates will be on campus for a debate on the U.S. economy, set for October 11. Hosted by Dartmouth, Bloomberg Television, The Washington Post, and WBIN-TV, the event will be broadcast nationally and around the globe by Bloomberg Television and streamed online by Washingtonpostlive.com.

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Susan J. Boutwell