Photo provided Cummins President and Chief Operating Officer Jennifer Rumsey was elected to the 14-person board of directors for the company.
Cummins Inc. has announced that a Columbus native who has risen to top leadership roles at the company over the past couple decades will join its board of directors.
On Friday, Cummins said President and Chief Operating Officer Jennifer Rumsey was elected earlier this week to the 14-person board of directors, which, among other things, oversees the company’s affairs, represents the interests of its shareholders and is involved with “significant strategic and operational issues.”
Rumsey, 48, is a 1992 graduate of Columbus East High School who lives in Columbus. She joined Cummins in 2000 and has held a variety of roles over the course of her career and is among just a few women who have risen to the highest levels in the company’s hierarchy.
She has served as the vice president of engineering for the engine business, president of the company’s components business and became the first woman to hold the role of chief technical officer.
In February 2021, Rumsey was the first woman to be named president and chief operating officer at Cummins.
Rumsey said she has “followed her passion” of working on “technologies that would make a difference.”
“It’s very exciting,” Rumsey said Friday. “It means a lot to me. Cummins means a lot to me as I grew up in Columbus. My father worked for many years for Cummins. I’ve now been with Cummins for 23 years. And so I’m honored to be elected to the board and excited to bring my business and technical experience in this next phase of leadership for the company.”
Cummins Chairman and CEO Tom Linebarger said he believes Rumsey’s skills and perspectives will help Cummins “evolve our technologies and our business” as the world and the company shifts away from fossil fuels.
Rumsey said Columbus will “certainly play an important role” in that transition.
“There’s a lot of work to be done across our business on this decarbonization journey, and Columbus will certainly play an important role in that, and certainly as we continue to position the company for the future, we’ll think about how our workforce and our facilities and our communities evolve,” Rumsey said. “But there’s still a lot to be done right now in the products that we’re making right here in southern Indiana.”
Throughout her career, Rumsey has been an advocate for diversity, equity and inclusion and for women pursuing careers in STEM fields. She is a member of the Society of Women Engineers, Society of Automotive Engineers, the Purdue Engineering Advisory Committee and Women in Trucking Association.
Rumsey received a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Purdue University in 1996 and a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1998.
Rumsey said she hasn’t seen herself as a pioneer as far as being a woman in a high-level position for an international company because there were so many women before her who broke down barriers. However, she feels fortunate that her family and other people around her encouraged her to consider engineering and wants to give back others “because there’s so many exciting opportunities in the world of engineering.”
“For many years, I’d say I didn’t think that I was a pioneer,” Rumsey said. “There have been other women, certainly, that have gone before me and risen into technical roles and leadership roles. In the company, I do feel honored and a responsibility to continue to advance diversity and inclusion at Cummins because I am the first female to be chief technical officer and now chief operating officer. So from that perspective, I have become a role model, and I really work hard to help inspire and encourage all of our employees and to ensure we have an inclusive environment.”
