• by David Goetzl , March 4, 2008

Beth Comstock, who led the shift of GE's tagline from "We Bring Good Things to Life" to "Imagination at Work" as the company's CMO, is essentially returning to her old job. The executive is vacating GE unit NBC Universal, where she had oversight of TV ad sales and led the purchase of iVillage.com, to return to the company headquarters after two years.

GE said Comstock will take the title of senior vice president and CMO (she had that role from 2003 to 2005), and laid out several murky roles that she will undertake, such as "developing cross-business digital initiatives, focusing initially on consumer health" and "establishing a network of external partners to extend GE's leadership in environmental technologies."

She will report to CEO Jeff Immelt.

Last fall, the New York Post reported the move was imminent, but an NBC representative vehemently denied it. The newspaper then reported the move again Monday, and GE announced it.

Comstock's NBC role included heading ad sales, marketing and research --along with digital strategy.

In a statement, Immelt credited her with laying the groundwork for NBCU, bringing in what will be $1 billion in digital revenues in 2008. "I want her to use the same approach to drive digital excellence across GE," he said.

GE's current CMO, Dan Henson, has been named president and CEO of GE Capital Solutions.

Comstock's duties at NBCU will be split, with Salil Mehta now leading the digital media operations; Mike Pilot, the head of sales and marketing, adding oversight of research; and Jeff Gaspin, president-COO of the Universal Television Group, having interim responsibility for iVillage.

NBC said it is launching "a virtual women's network" designed to pull in more female-targeted ad dollars. The group will include the Bravo and Oxygen operations as well as iVillage.