Silicones company's CEO comes full circle; Momentive Performance Materials marks 60 years with new leader who worked there when GE owned it.(Business)

Byline: ERIC ANDERSON - Deputy business editor

WATERFORD - For Momentive Performance Materials' newly named chief executive, Wednesday's 60th anniversary barbecue at the silicones plant here was a homecoming.

After all, Jonathan D. Rich's nearly two decades at General Electric Co. had included two years in the silicones business in the late 1990s when it was owned by GE. He left GE in 2000, but returned to the silicones business in June. Private-equity firm Apollo Management LP now owns the bulk of the company, acquiring it from GE late last year for $3.8 billion.

GE still has a 10 percent ownership stake in the business, which took the name …