General Electric Co. named a new chief financial officer, replacing a key member of the company’s executive team ahead of a planned spinoff of its energy-related businesses next year.
(Bloomberg) — General Electric Co. named a new chief financial officer, replacing a key member of the company’s executive team ahead of a planned spinoff of its energy-related businesses next year.
Current CFO Carolina Dybeck Happe, who has served in that role for just over three years, will step aside on Sept. 1 and be succeeded by Rahul Ghai, the top finance officer at GE Aerospace since August, the company said in a statement on Thursday.
Ghai, 51, will take on the new role in addition to his current duties at GE Aerospace. Dybeck Happe, 50, will continue to be a senior vice president of GE for an unspecified period. She will help with work ahead of the separation of GE Vernova, the company’s power-equipment and renewable energy units, planned for early 2024, the company said.
“This is the right time to make this change as GE progresses toward launching GE Vernova and GE Aerospace as standalone businesses,” GE Chief Executive Officer Larry Culp said in the statement.
Dybeck Happe joined GE as CFO in early 2020 from shipping giant Maersk and has helped execute the company’s historic breakup plan while overseeing a transformation of GE’s balance sheet. Prior to joining GE, Ghai was CFO of elevator manufacturer Otis Worldwide Corp.
GE’s shares fell 1.2% at 9:32 a.m. in New York. The stock has gained more than 50% this year.
Dybeck Happe was among the cadre of GE outsiders named to executive roles by Culp during his nearly five years leading a turnaround of the iconic manufacturer. Prior to Maersk, Happe spent 16 years at Swedish lock maker Assa Abloy, including seven years as CFO.
Since joining GE, she helped oversee a revamp of GE’s balance sheet that has included more than $100 billion in debt reduction since 2018, while simplifying the company’s byzantine financial reporting structure.
GE in 2021 announced plans to break up the once-mighty conglomerate into three companies by early 2024, leaving GE Aerospace as a stand-alone company primarily focused on making and servicing jet engines for commercial and military customers. The first phase was completed with the January spinoff of GE HealthCare Technologies Inc.
(Updates with opening shares, additional detail from sixth paragraph)
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