Investing.com -- General Electric (NYSE:GE) CEO Jeff Immelt's total compensation in 2015 fell more than 10% to $33 million and three longstanding members of its Board of Directors will leave later this year, the company announced on Monday.
As part of the board's transition, two of GE's longest serving directors, Douglas Warner III and James Cash, will not seek re-election this year. Warner, the former chairman at JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM), and Cash, a professor at Harvard Business School, served 24 and 19 years respectively with the board. In addition, Robert Swieringa, dean emeritus of Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University, announced his retirement from the board after serving 14 years. In response, the company has nominated Sebasiten Bazin, Chairman and CEO of hotel chain Accor (PA:ACCP) SA , Peter Henry, an economics and finance professor at NYU's Stern School of Business and Lowell McAdam, the CEO of Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ) for election on the Board.
The company cited term limits, retirement age and annual Board evaluations as the primary factors for the Board's "refreshment," in its 2015 Integrated Summary Report released on Monday. Following the changes, 38% of the new board will be under the age of 60 while the median age of its board members will decrease to 61.Last fall, the company imposed 15-year term limits for its board members and ruled that directors could not seek renomination after turning 75.
Also in the report, GE disclosed that Immelt received compensation of $23.377 million last year when adjusted for certain items, up 14% when pension changes were excluded. Immelt's base salary increased slightly to $3.8 million.
"I am really proud of the GE team. They are talented, global and driven; they, too, have been tested. The GE team will never be out- worked, and we don’t give up," Immelt said in the report. "Last year, we won a $2.5 billion order to upgrade the India rail system. This was a project we worked on for 20 years. It required global teams, week- end travel and all the strength of the GE Store."
Shares in GE closed at 30.27, down 0.06 or 0.18% on the session.