GE Names Rogers Vice Chairman

General Electric on Thursday named Gary Rogers vice chairman, to oversee the company’s more economically sensitive businesses as Chairman-elect and President Jeff Immelt builds his management team.

Rogers, 56, was chief executive of the company’s plastics unit. GE, the biggest company by market value, said it will split that business in two--plastics and specialty materials--before the planned integration of Honeywell International Inc. and its chemical operations.

Rogers will join fellow Vice Chairmen Dennis Dammerman, who oversees GE Capital, and Robert Wright, who manages the NBC television unit, in advising Immelt. Immelt will take over the chairman and chief executive spots from Jack Welch when he retires this year.

Welch postponed his planned retirement from last month until the $48 billion Honeywell purchase is completed.

Shares of Fairfield, Conn.-based GE, a component of the Dow Jones industrial average, rose 40 cents to close at $49.83 on the New York Stock Exchange.