Cummins CEO Jennifer Rumsey gives the keynote speech during the Greater Columbus Economic Development Corporation’s annual meeting Friday.
Jennifer Rumsey last month stepped into a transformational role leading Cummins Inc., where she has worked for nearly her entire professional career. And last week, the Columbus native gave a hometown crowd a message it heard and embraced.
Her message was clear and direct. Cummins, the company synonymous with Columbus and our region, must decarbonize for its own future, for our community’s future, and most importantly, for the good of the world. For the 103-year-old company with diesel power in its DNA, Rumsey appears uniquely able to lead that charge.
Cummins’ first female CEO spoke last week to a sold-out crowd at the Greater Columbus Economic Development Corporation’s annual meeting at The Commons. “Rumsey’s promotion shows,” The Republic’s Jana Wiersema reported from the event, “the company has to evolve with the times — not just in terms of leadership, but also in terms of planning for a greener future.”
Change is always difficult, but those at Cummins may seem about as close as anyone might get to reinventing the wheel. The prospect is daunting and audacious — imagining the eventual total evolution of this area’s top employer and defining industry away from the technology that to date has defined it.
Change like this will require a deft ability to manage technological, engineering, institutional and business challenges, and a steady commitment to a long-term vision, executed day in and day out.
The decades-long journey forward will be trying, to be sure. But it will also be familiar in many ways. After all, discovery and transformative invention also are in Cummins’ DNA.
In discussing Cummins’ “Destination Zero” decarbonization plan, Rumsey said the way forward is a “growth opportunity” for Cummins and for Columbus. And as the company pursues ambitious future zero-emissions drive systems, it’s also working now to reduce emissions wherever possible. It’s an incremental timeline that Rumsey projects out to 2040-2050.
“Just as we leveraged the need to innovate and evolve our products for the last several decades, we’ll continue to do that,” Rumsey told the EDC. She said doing so also requires commitments to inclusivity, “leveraging diverse perspectives” and cultivating a highly educated, skilled and talented workforce.
“What we continue to invest in the people of Cummins, how we create purpose for them, develop them and help them to meet their full potential is deeply personal to me, because I benefited from a career at Cummins and have been able to become CEO because of that focus on creating an inclusive environment and advancing people and helping them see what they can become,” Rumsey said.
Those familiar with Cummins and Rumsey’s ascent through the executive ranks should feel comfort in her expression of this vision and her ability to see it through. Rumsey has shown she has the experience, savvy, talent, drive and interpersonal skills to communicate, navigate and execute extraordinary change.
In Rumsey, Cummins has a natural, homegrown leader for our times and the times ahead.
