David R. Nissen

Overview

David Nissen is the President and CEO of GE Consumer Finance, a leading provider of credit services to retailers, auto dealers, and consumers in more than 35 countries around the world. With assets of over $95 billion, GE Consumer Finance offers private label credit cards and sales finance to the world's leading retailers and manufacturers, plus corporate cards for commercial customers, personal loans, automobile financing, and diversified financial products directly to consumers. Nissen joined GE Capital in 1981 in strategic planning and business development. In 1983, he joined Card Services where he held a variety of marketing and product leadership positions. In 1987, he was promoted to General Manager of Card Services where he was responsible for the leadership of GE private label card business serving over 300 retailers and manufacturers. Under Nissen's direction, Card Services expanded its product lines into commercial cards and secured lending while adding new segments such as shop-at-home, department store, and international. From 1990 to 1993, Nissen was General Manager of U.S. Consumer Financial Services. In this role he lead the 10th largest U.S. Visa/MasterCard bank in the U.S. (Monogram Bank). Begun in 1993 with a team of three people, GE Consumer Finance now has operations on five continents with more than 31,000 employees around the globe. Today, GE Consumer Finance is the third largest business in GE and one of the largest financial services businesses in the world. Nissen was named an officer of GE in 1996 and Senior Vice President of GE in 2001. In October 2003, Nissen was named one of "Ten Retail Banking Heroes" by Retail Banker International. The publication cited Nissen as one of ten individuals who helped shape the consumer banking industry landscape during the period covering 1981-2003. Nissen holds a bachelor's degree from Northwestern University (Evanston, Illinois) and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago. He lives in Stamford, Connecticut, and his hobbies include golf, tennis and jet skiing.