So here's the scoop on Ron Herman, the new CEO of GE and Mubadala's $8bn commercial finance joint venture. Herman, who will head up one of Mubadala's richest investments, started at GE Capital, the conglomerate's financing arm, in 1984, according to a bio accompanying a presentation he gave last year. He next served in GE's corporate audit unit before becoming a manager of financial analysis and then vice president of private equity at GE Asset Management. While he was in the asset management unit during the late 1980s and early 1990s, he co-managed a high-yield portfolio that notched 34 per cent annual gains, the bio says.
In 1993, Mr Herman became general manager of corporate M&A, a position he stayed in for 10 years, presiding over deals worth around $10bn. He was appointed in 2003 as CEO and president of GE Equity, where he served until GE brought him in to lead its commercial finance venture with Mubadala.
Mr Herman had served on the board of directors of ShopNBC, a home shopping network that is part-owned by GE Equity. He decided not to stand for re-election to that board last year. He also once served as deputy chairman of AsiaSat, a Hong Kong-based satellite operator that GE acquired a 34 per cent stake in back in 2007. Also in 2007, he (along with three others) received a US patent for a process to integrate business systems in mergers.