Rumsey introduced as new Cummins CEO at company headquarters in Columbus

COLUMBUS, Ind. — The new chief executive officer of Cummins, Inc. received a standing ovation from a crowd of city and state officials, employees and family at corporate headquarters Thursday, a very Columbus moment for a home-grown engineering talent named the company’s first female CEO in more than a hundred years.

Jennifer Rumsey was introduced by Tom Linebarger, current Cummins chairman and CEO, with an emotional tribute, saying he was really proud to leave the company stronger than he found it, and in the hands of Rumsey, who he described as a principled, caring leader who consistently has delivered outstanding results in good times and in bad times.

Company spokesman Jon Mills described the announcement as a historic moment for the Columbus-based company and “truly a tremendous day for Cummins.”

While Linebarger is stepping away as CEO, he will remain as company chairman of the board and in a role of executive chairman, to finish up some of the initiatives that are ongoing. Those include completing an acquisition of Meritor and continuing work to reach the environmental sustainability strategy gols for “PLANET 2050,” an effort to combat climate change and conserving natural resources to achieve carbon neutrality by mid-century.

As one of the world’s leading suppliers of diesel engines, Cummins’ environmental footprint is evolving to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the company’s facilities and operations, reducing water consumption, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and focusing on recycling.

But putting all those big challenges aside, Thursday’s announcement was very much people-focused, as Rumsey noted that she could not look toward family members, including one of her daughters in the audience, as the emotions might be too much.

And Linebarger, in his opening remarks, after noting that he had no regrets about his choice to step back from the CEO role and that this was the time and place for Rumsey to take over, noted he will miss the relationships that have come from his work at Cummins over the years.

“Every relationship in this company — I have cherished,” he said. “The thing I will miss most of all will be all of you.”

For more coverage, see Friday’s Republic.