A Letter from Sam Nunn

GE’s Board of Directors holds the Company accountable for delivering long-term shareholder value. Both the Board and management recognize that the long-term interests of shareholders are advanced by responsibly addressing the concerns of other stakeholders and interested parties, including employees, customers, suppliers, GE communities, government officials and the public at large. We believe that stockholders benefit when GE helps solve global and regional challenges with profitable products, services and expertise.

The Public Responsibilities Committee, which I chair, considers trends and developments in legislation, regulation, risk management, and public debate around the world. We encourage and expect management to respond to society’s challenges, meet its expectations, and help assure that markets reward responsibility.

We review the key public policies that the Company advocates around the globe, as well as the manner in which it conducts its relations with policy makers and regulators. We seek to ensure that the practices the Company demonstrates and the positions the Company takes are aligned to its legal and ethical commitments.

Our committee is reassured by the alignment between GE’s strategy for creating sustainable value and its positions as a contributor to public policy debates. We are also reassured by management’s commitment to ethics, integrity, compliance and sustainability, and by the resources and focus dedicated to implementing these commitments. GE commitments apply everywhere the Company operates, and the performance benchmarks for every GE facility are global best practices and local legal requirements.

Our committee and the Board monitor performance, ask questions, and discuss risks related to the environment and other public policy initiatives. These relate both to GE’s 130-year legacy and to new expectations that the Company must understand as they emerge. Often, the Company operates in dynamic economies where rapid growth is putting extraordinary pressure on institutional frameworks for ensuring responsibility and integrity along supply chains and in product use. Resource-rich countries in particular have their own risks, as an abundance of natural resources can fuel corruption, economic stagnation and conflict, rather than sustainable economic development. Adopting new technologies brings other concerns about privacy, safety, intellectual properties, and environmental impact.

As an important part of our accountability process, this Citizenship Report is about specific issues of interest to stakeholders. It is also about how GE’s products, services, and investments address global imperatives in a way that sustains growth and long-term value for shareholders, employees, business partners and society. We hope that those who read this report will recognize GE’s commitment and effort, test our thinking, and work with us as we help create a healthy and prosperous society, and improve an innovative, creative and profitable GE.

Sam Nunn
Committee Chair, Public Responsibilities Committee and Member, GE Board of Directors