Mark Little

In his 37 year career at General Electric, Mark Little served in diverse senior leadership roles in operations, research, strategic planning, joint venture development, and product management. From 2005, as GE’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and Senior Vice President/Director of GE Global Research, Mark reported to the CEO and developed fundamental technologies to help GE compete and grow in every one of its businesses: energy, oil & gas, aviation, healthcare, transportation, consumer products, and financial services. Mark’s vision is now to help other organizations apply the lessons he’s learned during his years of leadership at GE by working with business, civic and not-for-profit leaders as an advisor and mentor.

A company officer for 21 years, Mark had a two-part senior leadership career at GE managing both major lines of business and global research. Mark became only the ninth director of GE Global Research in the company’s history. His team led transformative initiatives in software, advanced manufacturing and cybersecurity, and delivered countless innovations that produced GE’s best product and service portfolio in years. Mark’s research team of over 3,600 people was from every major scientific and engineering discipline, working at nine research facilities in the USA, India, China, Germany, Brazil, and Israel. As CTO, he led some 50,000 technologists across GE. These experiences gave him a profound appreciation for diverse cultures and working styles.

Earlier in his career, as a business leader, he turned around a global business unit from annual losses to the highest annual profit ever achieved in a business unit in GE. In doing so, he beat operating plans through every phase of the business cycle. In addition, Mark was responsible for the acquisition and integration of a bankrupt energy business, positioning it to become a $6B GE enterprise today.

Charitable work is central to Mark’s purpose. He and his wife founded and operate the Little Family Foundation, which provides a strong base for charitable pursuits. They are both active in the foundation which supports a wide variety of local community activities as well as international and veterans organizations.

Mark trained as a mechanical engineer, with a bachelor’s degree from Tufts, master’s from Northeastern, and Ph.D. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute of which Mark is a Trustee. Family life is at Mark’s core. He and his wife Terri have two adult children, with their first granddaughter having recently arrived. He is an avid book reader, a self-taught guitarist (rock, blues, jazz), a golfer, and is self-decribed as “a crazy Boston sports fan.”