Jenne K. Britell, Ph.D., is the Chairman of United Rentals, Inc. (NYSE:URI). She is also the Chairman and CEO of Structured Ventures, Inc, advisors on financial services business and product strategy to U.S. and foreign companies. She is a director of two additional NYSE companies: Crown Holdings, Inc.(CCK);* and Quest Diagnostics Inc. (DGX).** She is also a director of the U.S. Russia Investment Fund and the U.S. Russia Foundation, and a Sustaining Trustee of the Fox Chase Cancer Center.
Dr. Britell is a former senior executive of GE Capital. At GE Capital, until March 2000, she served as the Executive Vice President of Global Consumer Finance and President of Global Mortgage and Commercial Banking. Previously, she was President and CEO of GE Capital, Central and Eastern Europe. Based in Vienna, she had responsibility for the GE Capital consumer and commercial banking businesses in the region, as well as in Austria and Switzerland, and for the consumer finance business in Germany. Prior to that, as President and CEO, she led the turnaround of GE Capital Mortgage Services. At GE, she was recognized as a business leader who led turnarounds or enhanced profitability, with outstanding Six Sigma and compliance performance. She also served as Chairman of the Management or Supervisory Boards of many foreign GE-owned banks.
From 1993-1996, she was Executive Vice President, Chief Lending Officer, and General Manager, Mortgage Banking, of Dime Bancorp, where she led the turnaround of the Dime’s mortgage business, among other efforts.
From 1990-1993, as Chairman and CEO of HomePower, Inc., she was a senior advisor to many national and international corporations, including Chase, Dime, MONY, the Central European Development Corp., the Polish-American Enterprise Fund and the World Bank. She was also the founding Chairman and CEO of the Polish-American Mortgage Bank, in Warsaw, Poland. This Bank was the first private western-style residential construction/mortgage bank, in Central and Eastern Europe.
Previously, Dr. Britell held senior positions at Citicorp and Republic New York Corporation (now HSBC).
She received her B.A., with honors, and M.A. from Harvard University and her M.S. (business administration) and Ph.D. from Columbia University.
Dr. Britell was formerly Senior Advisor to eBay and PayPal for Financial Services, a director of Lincoln National Corporation and of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc., lead director of Aames Investment Corporation, and a trustee of TIAA-CREF, of the Brooklyn Academy of Music, of the New York City Housing Partnership, and of William Paterson University, and a charter member of the US Department of Defense Advisory Committee on Military Personnel Testing.
*Chairman, Audit Committee, designated financial expert. **Member, Audit and Finance Committee, designated financial expert and Member, Compensation Committee.