Biographical Summary

As the executive who runs GE's wind and solar business, Abate is at the forefront of one of the company's highest-growth segments. A holder of multiple degrees form Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Massachusetts-native Abate has a solid technical background and has been with GE Energy for 20 years. Under his leadership, the wind business, which GE acquired from Enron in 2002 for $250 million, has grown to be a $6 billion-dollar-plus-business for GE. Abate is focused on increasing the reliability of GE's wind turbines and driving innovations in solar that will support better cost-effectiveness and scalability. "What excites us is electricity demand between now and 2030 is expected to double so we are in a growth market," he said in 2010. "73 countries have renewable portfolio targets. The whole world is diversifying its energy portfolio."