GE’s Keith Sherin to speak at Mendoza’s graduate ceremony

Keith Sherin, recently retired vice chairman of GE, will serve as the keynote speaker for the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business 2017 Graduate Commencement and Diploma Ceremony. The event takes place at 10 a.m. on May 20 in the Joyce Center Purcell Pavilion.

The graduate programs bestowing degrees include Notre Dame MBA, Executive MBA, Master of Nonprofit Administration, Master of Science in Accountancy, Master of Science in Management, Master of Science in Finance and Master of Science in Business Analytics.

Sherin retired from the multinational conglomerate corporation at the end of 2016 after a 35-year career. He served 15 years as GE’s chief financial officer, and as head of lending unit GE Capital since 2013. Sherin is credited widely with steering the company through the depths of the financial crisis and overhauling GE to refocus on its core operations, which included dismantling most of GE Capital.

In announcing Sherin’s retirement, GE CEO Jeff Immelt wrote in an email to employees, “I could trust him with any task, large or small … He was equally comfortable in the boardroom as he was on the factory floor.”

Sherin earned his B.A. in Science from Notre Dame and his MBA Columbia University. He serves on the Mendoza College of Business Advisory Council, as well as on the boards of the GE Foundation (the company’s philanthropic arm) and buildOn’s Global Leadership Council. He is also a member of Financial Executives International and the Phi Beta Kappa Society.