John Flannery, current president and CEO of GE Healthcare, has been named CEO of GE by the GE board of directors effective August 1, 2017 and chairman and CEO effective January 1, 2018.

Jeff Immelt, chairman and CEO, will remain chairman of the board through his retirement from the company on December 31, 2017. In addition, Jeff Bornstein, current CFO, has also been promoted to vice chair of GE.

Immelt said, “John is the right person to lead GE today. He has broad experience across multiple businesses, cycles and geographies. He has a track record of success and led one of our most essential businesses. Most important are his strong leadership traits – good judgment, resilience, a learner, team builder and a tough-minded individual and competitor. He will be trusted by investors, our customers and the GE team.”

Flannery began his career at GE Capital in 1987 where he focused on evaluating risk for leveraged buy-outs. In the 1990s, he was a leader in the corporate restructuring and workout group, where he was known for his negotiating skills and ability to improve companies’ operations. In 1997, Flannery moved to Argentina where he successfully led GE’s Equity business in Latin America and the overall GE Capital business for Argentina and Chile.

In 2002, Flannery became the president and CEO of GE Equity and was asked to lead the business through a difficult cycle. In 2005, he moved to Asia where he was responsible for the Asia Pacific region for GE Capital. In 2009, he moved to India to lead the country for GE. In 2013, he was tapped to lead business development at GE Corporate where he focused on capital allocation for the company and led the acquisition of Alstom, the largest industrial acquisition in the company’s history. He also worked on shrinking GE Capital, the Synchrony Financial IPO and the disposition of GE Appliances.

Since joining GE Healthcare in 2014, Flannery has led the turnaround of the business, increasing organic revenue by 5% and margins by 100 bps in 2016.

Flannery said, “Today’s announcement is the greatest honor of my career. I am privileged to have spent the last 16 years at the company working for Jeff, one of the greatest business leaders of our time. He has transformed the GE portfolio, globalized the company and created a vision for the GE of the future by positioning the company to lead in digital and additive manufacturing. In the next few months, my focus will be on listening to investors, customers and employees to determine the next steps for GE.”