2008 Pinnacle Awardee
Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer
Harman International Industries, Inc.
Michael Chen is the President and CEO of Media, Communications, and Entertainment, GE Commercial Finance and is a Vice President and Officer of GE. Mr. Chen has primary responsibility for overseeing GE's debt and equity financing activities to the media, communications and entertainment sectors and the technologies that enable them. In addition, he heads up
GE's Asian-Pacific American Forum, a group that has close to 10,000 people in the US. Mr. Chen was named as one of the nation's top sales and customer relationship individuals in the book 'Secrets of Great Rainmakers' by best-selling author Jeffrey Fox.
Mr. Chen started his career in 1985 as a financial analyst for IBM. After several management positions in sales, finance, and marketing for IBM, he was promoted in 1992 to head up Risk Management for IBM Credit Corporation's mid-market leasing business. In 1994, he left IBM to join GE as Vice President of Risk Management for GE Capital Aviation Services (GECAS).After three years he was named Senior Vice President, Marketing Operations for GECAS. In 1999, he was named Senior Vice President and Regional Mgr, North America for GECAS. In 2002, he was named a Vice President and Officer of GE Capital Corporation, and in 2005, he assumed the position of general manager for Global Airports and U.S.Aviation, GECAS. Mr. Chen was named to his current position in December 2006.
Mr. Chen received his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Rochester University in 1983 and an MBA in finance from the Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University in 1985. Mr. Chen also serves on the Board of Directors for Norwalk Community College and Give Me an Answer, a local community organization focused on helping young adults answer the tough questions in life.