Who

One of the most influential and admired business executives of his generation—and the poster boy for the hypercompetitive star CEO of the '80s and '90s—Welch is the retired chairman and CEO of General Electric.

Backstory

Welch earned a PhD in engineering from the University of Illinois before joining General Electric in 1960 at an annual salary of $10,500. By 1972, he was a vice president at the company, moving up the ladder to vice chairman in 1977 and chairman and CEO in 1981. During his two decades running the show, Welch transformed GE from a sleepy electronics company into a global powerhouse conglomerate, thanks to a ruthless management approach which involved continually weeding out managers who failed to perform up to snuff. (His voracious cost-cutting earned him the famous nickname "Neutron Jack.") Empowering his talented division heads to run their units like independent companies, Welch groomed a generation of future CEOs (see below) and modernized GE by shifting the company's focus from manufacturing to financial services (GE Capital) and media (NBC). His impact is clearly reflected in the shareholder value he created over his tenure: When he first assumed control of GE in 1981, it had a market cap of $12 billion. By the time he exited the company, it had grown to over $400 billion.

Of note

Welch's obsessive focus on earnings, his embrace of the Six Sigma approach, and his Darwinian management tactics earned him legions of fans among consultants and business journalists. (He was named "Manager of the Century" by Fortune magazine in 1999.) Not everyone was quite so convinced. His unrelenting focus on the bottom line led to a handful of legal ordeals as managers took shortcuts to achieve earnings, and some critics have argued that Welch's emphasis on short-term gains occasionally came at the expense of longer-term opportunities. Regardless of what analysts have to say about his strategic vision, it's hard to question his talent for timing. Welch stepped down as GE's CEO on Sept. 7, 2001—just four days before Sept. 11th— leaving the company in the hands of Jeff Immelt, who has had to weather countless crises ever since.

Currently

Welch is quasi-retired these days. He's a special partner at the private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice and published a bestselling memoir in 2002, Jack: Straight from the Gut. With his wife, he pens a column for BusinessWeek.

Namedrop

Welch's protégés are numerous and include Bob Nardelli, who headed up Home Depot and now runs GM; David Calhoun, who runs Nielson (formerly VNU); Jim McNerney, the CEO of Boeing; and David Cote, the chairman and CEO of Honeywell.

Health report

He underwent a triple bypass in 1995.

Personal

Welch is married to his third wife, Suzy Wetlaufer, who is 24 years his junior. She was forced to resign as editor of Harvard Business Review after admitting that she'd entered into an affair with Welch while working on a story about him. He divorced his second wife, Jane Beasley, in 2003 after his affair with Wetlaufer came to light. The divorce reportedly cost Welch $100 million. He has four children with his first wife, Carolyn.

Habitat

Welch lives in the star-studded One Beacon Court building in a 3,600-square-foot condo he purchased for $5.5 million in 2004. (His neighbors include Beyoncé and Brian Williams.) Welch also has a residence in Boston's Beacon Hill neighborhood and a Tony Ingrao-designed summer home in Nantucket.

No joke

Beasley's divorce papers were a corporate governance zealot's gold mine, revealing that in retirement, G.E. still paid for Welch's apartment, court-side seats to the New York Knicks and U.S. Open, box seats at Red Sox and Yankees baseball games, seats at Wimbledon, country club fees, security services, restaurant bills, and a $300,000-a-month private plane. After the news broke, Welch gave up the perks.