BC, HUB BIGS FETE GE CEO
A security team patrolled outside a Manhattan building — and for a change, it wasn’t because of Melania Trump. General Electric Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Immelt took center stage at Cipriani Wall Street last night, being honored at the 29th annual Boston College Wall Street Council Tribute Dinner with the President’s Medal for Excellence.
“Let me tell you, to win this award, all you have to do is uproot your company, move it to Boston, create a thousand new jobs,” Immelt said jokingly to the crowd. “I had to work for it,” he added. By now, it’s no secret that GE has made Boston its new home. The company has taken up a temporary office on Farnsworth Street as its behemoth of a headquarters is being built by the Fort Point Channel. And Immelt himself is now one of our own, having bought a swanky condo on Commonwealth Avenue.
“I am privileged to be with Boston College tonight celebrating education, leadership and the Gabelli Presidential Scholars Program,” Immelt told the Track. “We look forward to building our already strong relationship with BC, especially now that we are neighbors.”
Immelt said the academic environment in our city and the sense of pride for our role in American history attracted GE to Boston. Plus, he said, “We like that Boston is a city with a chip on its shoulder.”
The yearly dinner has raised more than $26 million for the Gabelli Presidential Scholars Program at Boston College over the past 28 years.
This time around, folks raised their bellini glasses to celebrate Immelt, as BC President William Leahy, S.J., awarded the GE exec President’s Medal for Excellence for his achievements in business and his overall contributions to society.
Immelt may have been the man of the hour, but a number of other prominent businessmen graced the guest list for the black-tie affair. Among them were Steve Barry, managing director and chief investment officer at Goldman Sachs Asset Management; John Fish, chairman and CEO of Suffolk Construction; Robert Kraft, chairman and CEO of the Kraft Group, as well as owner of our beloved New England Patriots; Mintz Levin Chairman Robert Popeo; and Peter Lynch, vice chairman of Fidelity Investments.
The Track ran into Kraft, who was arm-in-arm with a brunette who would only say she went by “no name,” at the posh Manhattan event.
Kraft said he came “to support Jeff. ... He’s done such great work. I had to be here to honor him.”
Both Immelt and Kraft are part of the Board of Governors for Boston College’s Chief Executives Club, which also comprises other Boston bigwigs such as the Celtics’ Wyc Grousbeck, Hill Holliday’s Karen Kaplan, Raytheon’s Thomas Kennedy and TJX Companies’ Carol Meyrowitz.
In addition to coming out for Immelt, Kraft said he’s a longtime fan of BC and the work of the school’s late President J. Donald Monan, S.J.
He said, “It’s focused on building bridges and bringing us together. … That’s what the Patriots do. They bring a community together.”