High-Level GE Managers Get New Posts

General Electric Co. shuffled some top management in a move that renewed speculation about who will succeed John Welch as chairman and chief executive of the nation’s most valuable company. Among those promoted were W. James McNerney Jr., 47, who runs GE’s lighting business. He will replace Eugene Murphy as head of GE’s aircraft engines unit, a larger business. McNerney has been touted among investors and securities analysts as a leading contender in the race for Welch’s job. McNerney has the breadth of GE experience to vault him to the top of the candidate list, analysts said. Murphy, 61, will become the fourth member of GE’s executive office, with Welch and Vice Chairmen Paolo Fresco and John Opie. David Calhoun, 40, the head of GE’s transportation systems business, will now head GE Lighting. John Rice, also 40, will replace Calhoun. Paul McBride, 41, who runs a GE Plastics unit, will replace Rice as head of GE Plastics-Pacific. The value of GE’s stock increased more than 17-fold since Welch took over in 1981. Shares fell $1 to $69.13 on the NYSE.