General Electric on Friday appointed Thomson Reuters executive W. Geoffrey Beattie as its 16th board director and promoted Norman Liu to head its aviation finance division.

Mr Beattie, 49, is Thomson’s deputy chairman and chief executive of Woodbridge, the electronic media company’s controlling shareholder. At GE, he fills the board seat vacated by Claudio X. Gonzalez, chairman of Kimberly-Clark de Mexico, who retired in April.