Beth Comstock
{{Short description|American business executive}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Beth Comstock
| image = Beth Comstock (cropped).jpg
| caption = Comstock in 2017
| birth_name =
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| nationality = American
| occupation = Vice Chair, General Electric (retired)
| alma mater = College of William and Mary (B.S.)
| spouse =
| children = 2
}}
Elizabeth "Beth" Comstock is an American business executive. She is a former vice chair of General Electric.{{cite web | url=http://fortune.com/2015/09/01/ge-comstock-vice-chair | title=GE names a new vice-chair—and she is... | publisher=Fortune | date=September 1, 2015 | access-date=September 1, 2015}} She operated GE Business Innovations, which developed new businesses, markets and service models; drives brand value and partners to enhance GE's inventive culture. This unit includes GE Lighting, Current, GE Ventures & Licensing and GE sales, marketing and communications.{{cite web | url=http://www.fastcompany.com/3050694/the-fast-company-innovation-festival/ge-names-its-first-ever-female-vice-chair | title=GE Names Its First-Ever Female Vice Chair | publisher=FastCompany | date=September 2, 2015 | access-date=September 2, 2015}}
Personal life
Comstock was born in Morgantown, West Virginia, to a schoolteacher mother and a dentist father. She is the oldest of three children. Her family moved to the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia where she spent her primary school years.{{Cite web|title=Interview with Beth Comstock, Author|url=https://www.julieroehm.com/conversational/interview-with-beth-comstock-author|access-date=2020-06-28|website=Julie Roehm|date=5 March 2020 |language=en-US}} Comstock graduated from The College of William and Mary in 1982 with a Bachelor of Science in biology and a minor in anthropology.{{citation needed|date=February 2023}}
Career
Realizing she "want[ed] to tell stories about science", Comstock interned at a public radio station, afterwards transitioning to local television reporting in Virginia and public-access television in Washington, D.C.{{cite web|title=Beth Comstock|url=https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabethjcomstock|access-date=2016-07-19|publisher=LinkedIn}} She moved to NBC as a publicity coordinator in the mid-1980s. After stints at CBS and Turner Broadcasting, she was brought back to NBC News for a turnaround project after a "fake news" scandal nearly collapsed the division.{{cite web|date=October 31, 2013|title=Paley Dialogues: Breakfast|url=https://www.paleycenter.org/mc-beth-comstock-oct30|access-date=October 31, 2013|publisher=The Paley Center For Media}} Based on this success, Comstock was recognized by Jack Welch and promoted to higher-level roles inside GE, which owned NBC at the time.
In 2003, Comstock began serving as GE's chief marketing and commercial officer, the first CMO in more than 20 years, and created Ecomagination{{Cite web|title=Ecomagination at GE|url=https://digital.hbs.edu/platform-rctom/submission/ecomagination-at-ge/|access-date=2020-06-28|website=Technology and Operations Management|language=en-US}} in 2005 as an initiative to drive positive environmental impact from GE and its customers.{{cite web|date=December 10, 2015|title=9 Ways GE Executed Its Radical Green Reinvention|work=Co.Exist |url=http://www.fastcoexist.com/3054441/9-ways-ge-executed-its-radical-green-reinvention|access-date=December 10, 2015|publisher=Fast Company}} From 2006, she was President of Integrated Media at NBC Universal overseeing ad sales, marketing and research, and led the company's digital efforts including Peacock Equity, acquiring iVillage.com and oversaw the founding of Hulu.{{cite web | url=http://www.nywici.org/matrix/2016/beth-comstock | title=Beth Comstock | publisher=NY WICI | date=February 29, 2016 | access-date=February 29, 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160404175641/http://www.nywici.org/matrix/2016/beth-comstock | archive-date=April 4, 2016 | url-status=dead }} Comstock was eventually promoted to Vice Chair of GE. In October 2017, she stepped down from this role to focus on new opportunities.
In Sept 2018, Comstock released her first book "[https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/2143244/beth-comstock Imagine It Forward: Courage, Creativity and the Power of Change"].
=Honors and achievements=
- Comstock was a member of Nike, Inc's Board of Directors and Trustee president of the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum.{{cite web|date=March 21, 2016|title=Matrix 2016: Announcing Our Fifth Presenter, Beth Comstock|url=http://www.nywici.org/matrix/2016/matrix-2016-announcing-our-fifth-presenter-beth-comstock|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160404063611/http://www.nywici.org/matrix/2016/matrix-2016-announcing-our-fifth-presenter-beth-comstock|archive-date=April 4, 2016|access-date=March 21, 2016|publisher=NY WICI}}
- Forbes named Comstock one of "The World's 100 Most Powerful Women" in 2015 {{cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/pictures/gjlk45ei/beth-comstock/#7cf3ef142fb1|title=The World's 100 Most Powerful Women|website=forbes.com|access-date=2015-05-26}} and 2016.{{cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/profile/beth-comstock/?list=power-women|title=The World's 100 Most Powerful Women|website=forbes.com|access-date=2016-06-06}}
- On 29 October 2016, Comstock was listed by UK-based company Richtopia at number 8 in the list of 100 Most Influential Chief Marketing Officers.{{cite web|url=http://richtopia.com/inspirational-people/top-100-chief-marketing-officers-cmos|title=Chief Marketing Officers Top 100|work=Richtopia|access-date=31 October 2016|archive-date=5 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161105213801/http://richtopia.com/inspirational-people/top-100-chief-marketing-officers-cmos|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=https://www.facebook.com/DunBradstreet/posts/1233724463317602|title=Dun & Bradstreet Congratulates CMO|work=Facebook|access-date=5 November 2016}}
- September 2018, Comstock named among PRWeek's "Top 20 Most Influential Communicators{{Cite news|url=https://www.prweek.com/article/1493252/20-influential-communicators|title=PRWeek's 20 most influential communicators|work=PRWeek|access-date=2018-11-13}}".
References
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Category:College of William & Mary alumni
Category:General Electric people
Category:20th-century American businesspeople
Category:20th-century American businesswomen
Category:21st-century American businesspeople
Category:21st-century American businesswomen
Category:Businesspeople from Morgantown, West Virginia