Cummins' Mary Chandler (right) greets Denise Raquel Dunning, founder of Rise Up, at Thursday's announcement.
Cummins has been grounded since its founding in the belief that wherever the company operates, it will leave communities stronger than it found them. Building more prosperous communities isn’t just better for the people living in them, it’s better for the company’s business and society at large.
Now Cummins is helping to empower a global community that needs support – women and girls.
“Cummins’ mission is to make people’s lives better by powering a more prosperous world and Cummins Powers Women epitomizes this purpose,” said Tom Linebarger, Cummins Inc. Chairman and CEO. “One way we seek to better communities is by investing in programs that improve the lives of women and girls. We’ve seen firsthand the positive transformation that happens when we ensure diversity and inclusion within our organization, bringing more women into our business at every level.”
The Cummins Powers Women program is the company’s most ambitious community initiative ever, representing a multi-million dollar investment designed to create large-scale impact in the lives of women and girls globally. Through Cummins Powers Women, the company will partner with a network of global nonprofit organizations that have existing, proven programs with metrics in place. The programs will focus on areas where significant barriers exist to the advancement of girls and women, including grass-roots teaching and mentoring, financial empowerment through entrepreneurship, leadership training, and strategic guidance to non-profit leaders.
Today, women continue to face inequality. Around the world, girls are less likely to finish high school, more likely to be married against their will as children, and less likely to have career prospects. But when women and girls are educated, given opportunity and paid fairly, families and economies prosper.
“The growth and improvements we have seen in our own company through an inclusive environment for women are the catalyst for us to dream about a future for all women that includes abundant opportunity for global leadership, invention, skill and creativity – a world powered by women in which progress accelerates, invention amplifies and solutions become easier to find,” said Mary Titsworth Chandler, Vice President of Corporate Responsibility and Chief Executive Officer of the Cummins Foundation.
Cummins is focused on fixing the problem at its root and finding answers that will yield the greatest impact for women and girls to unlock their full power. The Cummins Leadership Team and regional leadership teams will spearhead this global effort, working closely with Cummins’ nonprofit partners in their regions and local communities.
The company knows that for many of its leaders, this work isn’t just a professional issue. It’s a personal one, too. It’s about our mothers, daughters, sisters, friends and neighbors. After all, as Linebarger remarked, “Making an engine is hard. Making the world more just for women and girls is harder.”
Anna Lintereur is Chief of Staff and Communications Manager for Corporate Responsibility at Cummins Inc. She joined the company in 2010, serving in a variety of roles including global communications leader for Corporate Responsibility and project manager for the construction of Cummins’ Distribution Business headquarters in Indianapolis. Prior to joining Cummins, she worked for Irwin Financial Corporation for more than 12 years.
Cummins Advocating for Racial Equity (CARE) partners with The 15 White Coats and Black Worldschoolers Mobile Bookstore to launch the Resilient Readers Book Club for students in the Martindale-Brightwood schools of Indianapolis
Powered by Cummins Inc. and its employee volunteers, The 15 White Coats and Black Worldschoolers Mobile Bookstore all came together on March 6 to launch The Resilient Readers Book Club at KIPP Indy Legacy High School located in the Martindale-Brightwood neighborhood in Indianapolis, Indiana.
The club is a book gifting initiative for school age children that provides access to culturally relevant literature. Uniquely designed book boxes are filled with books and placed inside youth centered organizations, inspiring the youth of tomorrow with age-appropriate, high-quality black literature. Teachers, students and community partners attended the inspiring ground breaking event along with Cummins’ leadership, employees and CARE representatives.
“Not only am I proud to be here today representing Cummins, but I also take great pride in the fact my family has a long-time history in this community,” said Tavonna Harris Askew, Executive Director & Social Justice Co-chair of CARE at Cummins. “Cummins has a deeply rooted history of fighting for social justice, serving its communities and living its core values of diversity and inclusion. This initiative, in partnership with these two outstanding organizations, along with our community partners, is making a great impact in driving change and helping kids read. It's providing children and families access to enjoyable books, powerful stories and meaningful community interaction that will cultivate a joy for reading, a healthy sense of self, fruitful lives and future aspirations.”
A memorable event
Employees from Cummins Community Involvement Team (CIT), along with volunteers within the partnering organizations, delivered and assembled the 20+ three-tiered book boxes, designed by The 15 White Coats and Black Worldschoolers Mobile Bookstore. The boxes make available 15 curated books for children in Kindergarten through 3rd Grade. Along with Harris Askew, Dr. Russell J. Ledet, Co-founder and President, The 15 White Coats, and Natalie Pipkin, Founder & CEO, Black Worldschoolers Mobile Bookstore, shared the history of their respective organizations and provided an overview of the purpose of the book club to the students, teachers and community partners in attendance.
Recognizing the need
Being able to read is critical to success and part of our everyday lives. Only half of the adults in the U.S. are proficient in reading, and, according to experts, 3rd Grade is the key milestone. Seventy-five percent of students that do not read proficiently in 3rd Grade will never reach proficiency. According to Indiana’s National Assessment Educational Progress (NAEP), only 33% of fourth graders in Indiana read at or above a proficient level, with Black students among those suffering most. The NAEP results reflect the reality of educational inequities created by centuries of systemic racism that are still present today. High-quality, culturally relevant books that can serve as mirrors and motivation to a historically left out population is a great start in addressing the need. The Martindale-Brightwood neighborhood of Indianapolis has a scarcity of books in places where Black children are present and a lack of stories that positively reflect the youth within the communities.
Organizations taking action
In October 2020, Cummins Advocating for Racial Equity (CARE) launched so Cummins could take a leading role in the work to dismantle systemic discrimination against the Black community in the U.S. As a first step in this journey, CARE brings together all Cummins' capabilities – its people, balance sheet and philanthropy – to drive racial equity and combat the impact of racism on its people, communities, and economy. Through CARE, Cummins is taking decisive action to address and spearhead change throughout targeted CARE communities in the U.S.
The 15 White Coats, established in 2019, is an internationally recognized non-profit organization whose mission is to diversify medicine through mentorship, literacy accessibility, and economic assistance. The organization started after a photo of 15 Tulane School of Medicine African-American medical students, dressed in their white coats, posed in front of plantation slave quarters went viral. The organization has assisted over 2,000 students with over $500,000 in scholarships to help with entering the healthcare field. Moreover, nearly 10,000 15 White Coats photos have been distributed to schools, students, institutions, and businesses worldwide.
Black Worldschoolers Mobile Bookstore is a bookstore on wheels sharing stories that uplift Black life, Black heritage, and Black joy. Described as a “bookstore on wheels with ice cream truck energy”, owner, Natalie Pipkin is on a mission to provide access and awareness to Black stories as well as excitement and engagement around reading. In June 2022, Black Worldschoolers Mobile Bookstore debuted as Indiana's first bookstore on wheels and is the first of its kind in the region.
Future plans
Cummins Community Involvement Team (CIT) volunteers and the initiative partners are planning to deliver the three-tiered book boxes and read stories aloud to children at site locations throughout the year. The locations in the Martindale-Brightwood community were identified by the Edna Martin Christian Center, Kipp Indy and other local partners. Moreover, the partnership will host a literacy event in collaboration with Kipp Indy Schools later in 2023 to bring in the Mobile Bookstore and National Book Award Finalist, Children’s Book Author, Derrick Barnes.
Tamra Knudsen is a Brand Journalist for Cummins with extensive experience in the Capital Goods sector, serving over 20 years in various corporate communications roles. She began her career in accounting, moving into numerous positions within finance, marketing and administration, until she discovered her niche in the field of communications. Her passion is to create transparent and meaningful content that educates, informs and engages readers on a variety of topics for both external and internal audiences.
Tamra graduated from the University of Wisconsin, Parkside, with a BS in Business Administration and Management.
Saroja and Cummins are in a serious relationship. The two have been together for 22 years and, Saroja says, she’s grateful for every minute of it.
Saroja began at Cummins as a contractor in the Research and Technology organization immediately after graduate school in 1997. After three years, understanding the values of Cummins fit so well with her personal and career goals, when it was time to take their relationship to the next level, she became a full-time employee. Today, as the Director of Integration, EDI and Value Stream Management Technology Platforms, Saroja manages more than ten teams of product-centered, agile software engineers and product owners who code, develop software products, create value for their customers, manage technology platforms, and build automation of software delivery and APIs for every business unit, function, and area business office in the company. “We’re thinking about the big picture of where Cummins wants to go digitally. We have some big goals as an IT department to make solutions available to build your products wherever you are with agility, capabilities that are most valuable with resiliency and sound underlying foundations,” she says. “My team is creating a platform of digital solutions easy to consume by all either internally or externally.”
She calls herself a cheerleader, a motivator, and a decision-maker, and recently she’s returned to recruiting at conferences like the Society of Women Engineers, Out4Undergrad, National Black Society of Engineers, and Women in Computing . As subcommittee leader of the IT organization’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Attract team at Cummins, she gets encouraged to connect with thousands of talented women and non-binary computing technologists out there, seeking to achieve intersectional gender and pay parity. Information Technology and digitization will be essential for Cummins to pursue goals in introducing new products (Electric, Hydrogen), new digital capabilities, Destination Zero, and Planet 2050, we need all different perspectives and power in technical computing.
“This last Out4Undergrad conference was life-changing,” she says. “I met all these undergrads, nonbinary and transgender technologists as people. It was heart-wrenching listening to stories kids shared about not having access to basic things like love, respect, rights, or even access to a bathroom, which my kids and I take for granted. As a mother I thought, is that true? Is that possible? I thought I was in a modern country, and here’s a kid telling me they’re lost and have given up. I had a light switch turned on.”
Deeply moved, Saroja, who is influenced by Gandhi’s wisdom “to be the change you want to see in the world”, decided right then that she needed to do something more. She is currently trying to figure out how to make the biggest impact, whether inside the workplace or outside the larger community. At this point in her career, she believes her biggest contribution to changing the world can come from mentoring young female, non-binary or feminine-presenting, college graduates.
She notes, “maybe with just one sentence I can give them a new perspective, hope, encouragement and let them know it’s possible, it’s OK to go for it. Boldly go where no one has gone before, be who you want to be (your authentic self), and get to grow through that process. Plus, I learn from them as well.”
She’s also considering something as simple as proposing that Cummins add ‘other’ as a dropdown choice for gender on their job application forms. She’s confident something like that would be considered at Cummins because to her, “you’re valued as a person here.”
It’s one of the reasons that she decided to start her relationship with Cummins all those years ago. “Cummins is like an entire world of its own — with people from every country — a multicultural community which lends itself to diversity and acceptance,” she says. The richness of experience that comes from being around so many different kinds of people help her feel connected.
Cummins, a global power technology leader, is a corporation of complementary business segments that design, manufacture, distribute and service a broad portfolio of power solutions. The company’s products range from internal combustion, electric and hybrid integrated power solutions and components including filtration, aftertreatment, turbochargers, fuel systems, controls systems, air handling systems, automated transmissions, electric power generation systems, microgrid controls, batteries, electrolyzers and fuel cell products.
Cummins Inc. and Indianapolis Motor Speedway anticipate the 107th Indianapolis 500 with community involvement activities and celebrations
On Friday, February 17th, with only 100 days until “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing,” Cummins Inc. employees partnered with Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) to make a positive impact in their community. Kicking off the 100-day countdown to the Indy 500, Cummins and Penske Entertainment employees joined forces for a morning of service, where they enthusiastically packed meals at Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana, the largest food pantry in the state serving 21 counties across central and southern Indiana.
Cummins is committed to powering a more prosperous world through their global Corporate Responsibility priorities critical to healthy communities. In support of those priorities, Cummins’ Every Employee Every Community (EEEC) program, a long-standing employee involvement initiative, enables and encourages every employee to use work hours to engage in their communities. Today’s activities were a perfect example of that commitment!
And, wrapping up the day at the 100 Days Out Fan Party, Cummins took the opportunity to showcase their historic No. 28 Cummins Diesel Special race car and other promotional materials. Cummins and IMS have enjoyed a long and storied history together since the very first Indy 500 race in 1911. It was there that Cummins’ founder, Clessie Cummins, served on the pit crew for the winning car.
With both organizations’ shared values of integrity, innovation and community stewardship, along with their over 100 year old histories, the partnership is a perfect match between two proud Hoosier companies that have grown to service customers from all corners of the world.
Tamra Knudsen is a Brand Journalist for Cummins with extensive experience in the Capital Goods sector, serving over 20 years in various corporate communications roles. She began her career in accounting, moving into numerous positions within finance, marketing and administration, until she discovered her niche in the field of communications. Her passion is to create transparent and meaningful content that educates, informs and engages readers on a variety of topics for both external and internal audiences.
Tamra graduated from the University of Wisconsin, Parkside, with a BS in Business Administration and Management.
A 2021 study by McKinsey & Company explores the reality many companies in the mining industry are working to address: underrepresentation of women in the industry. Cummins has long prioritized diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) and aspired to a workforce that is representative at every level of the communities in which it operates around the world. The mining industry is a powerful example of Cummins’ commitment to empowering women and providing opportunities for development and advancement.
At Cummins, women excel in a variety of careers serving the mining industry globally: service technicians, engineers, sales and marketing experts and executive leaders are among the many women from various backgrounds who are critical to the success of the mining business. Cummins has many initiatives to bring greater gender balance and equity into our workforce and communities, including:
Cummins Women in Technology Initiative and Conference
Focusing on gender balance during recruitment
Reducing the gender pay gap
Inspiring the next generations of engineers with a suite of STEM programs designed for girls
Empowering women through the through the Cummins Women's Empowerment Network, an employee resource group (ERG)
Providing a variety of flexible working arrangements, and enhanced parental benefits including an extended paternity policy
Training Opportunities are Critical for Career Transition and Advancement
A recent success comes from a Cummins-owned distributor in Chile, where a pilot program in 2022 recruited women with no prior technical experience to undergo specialized training for engine maintenance. The program resulted in the first group of women who are certified maintenance technicians serving mining customers and will continue in 2023. "This program is here to stay. This experience tells us that the plan is feasible in the mining sector, as well as in all areas of the company,” said Darío Ñancupil, Mining Director of Cummins Chile.
Mining Newcomers from All Types of Backgrounds are Finding Success in Sales and Service Roles
The mining industry also has opportunities for women who have worked in other industries and want a change. Transferable skills such as nimble learning, effective communication, project management, and strategic thinking are among the many competencies that are valued and in high demand within the mining industry.
Cummins Service Support Manager, Amanda Welsh, in Kamloops, BC, left her career as a bank teller to become a service advisor at an OEM dealership. While she initially faced challenges from not having a technical background, her perseverance delivered. “A pivotal moment for me was when I received a comment from a customer who said, ‘Amanda, when you say you will do something, you will, I don’t have to keep checking that it will get done. I can trust what you say and move on with my day.’ This gave me the confidence, drive and determination to keep forging ahead even on the days when I was asked, ‘can I talk to a guy please?’.”
Amanda Welsh, pictured with colleague, started with Cummins in 2015 as a field service advisor and ultimately worked her way up to Service Support Manager for the mining team in Kamloops, BC.
Employed with Cummins since 1995, Sarah Bilston spent much of her career in finance before becoming a Six Sigma Black Belt in 2007 and gaining exposure to complex projects within the Mining industry. Fast forward to four years ago when the Director of Mining, Asia Pacific, encouraged Sarah to consider applying for a role in the mining team, and she jumped at the opportunity. “Any female thinking about a career shift shouldn’t focus on the aspects of the mining industry they don’t have experience with and instead focus on the skills they can bring that will benefit the role,” she says.
"When I was working on my first Black Belt project, I was only the female around the table with about 18 males. Today it’s a very different landscape; it’s now closer to 50/50,” says Sarah Bilston, Major Accounts Manager, Mining.
STEM Roles Offer Robust Opportunity for Women in Mining
As Market Support Service Engineer Virginia A Veruette-maya says: “Helmets are made for boys and girls. More little girls should be playing with haul trucks and excavators!” When she was an intern with Cummins’ Master Rebuild Center in Denver, Colorado, Veruette-maya saw a high horsepower engine for the first time. “Ever since then, I just fell in love with the big engines, and I wanted to be on the front line. I wanted to bring the customer’s voice to my engineering team and help develop a better product.”
Leigha Chadwell, Six Sigma Black Belt – PSBU, Mining & Aftermarket, had a similar introduction to mining. “The first time that I went to a mine site, I was just amazed with the scale of the equipment and the operations at hand. I just loved it right away.” Chadwell has worked in application engineering for Cummins for 10 years. “I have had so much opportunity to travel to unique places, to test equipment and troubleshoot in the field, and interact directly with customers and OEMs.”
Whether building industry experience from years spent in the field or bringing new perspectives into the industry, women in leadership positions are critical for the industry’s continued growth and success.
“It’s incredibly important that women see and have access to other women in positions of leadership, including in the Mining industry,” says Jenny Bush, President, Cummins Power Systems. “Women need others they can relate to and the support and encouragement to dream big when considering their career aspirations. Mentoring is extremely valuable. I am passionate about opening doors for women by providing visibility, giving candid feedback and making connections so more women have pathways and time to develop and move into leadership roles. We are fortunate at Cummins to have robust leadership development programs and resources which help prepare women to ascend to and thrive in leadership roles across the company.”
One such leader at Cummins is Erica Baird, DBU Executive Director—Global Sales and Service, promoted in March 2023 from President of the Industrial Segment for Cummins Sales & Service North America (CSSNA). A mining engineer by trade and one of the first few African American women to graduate with a B.S. in mining engineering in the U.S., Erica joined Cummins in 2022 after a long history in the industry: “I paid my way through college working in the mines. I drove trucks. I worked as a surveyor. I scheduled maintenance. That’s how I learned about mining and fell in love with the industry.”
Erica Baird, Executive Director—Global Sales and Service
“Every day I go to work and know I and my team are making a difference. I think when we say we power the world, sometimes it doesn’t really sink in. Mining literally touches every aspect of our lives—from energy, radiant jewelry, wiring and electronics to providing economic survival in many countries in the world.”
Hear more from Erica and other women in mining roles at Cummins:
Cummins remains committed to accelerating diversity and inclusion within the mining sector. “Our mining team benefits daily from the substantial contributions made by our female colleagues. As an industry, we must continue finding new ways to recruit and support women,” says Beau Lintereur, Executive Director – Power Systems Aftermarket and Global Mining Market. “As both the mining industry and global workforce continue to evolve, having diverse perspectives in all functions will be paramount to a sustainable and successful future.”
Learn more about Cummins’ groundbreaking mining solutions.
Gallery
June Li, Senior Key Account Manager – S.O.E. Mining
“Gender creates difference. Women have a unique advantage in the male-dominated mining market. As a woman, my advantage is that I am able to control the overall situation, think and communicate with each other from the perspective of strategic point of view of both sides, and move forward based on plan and time schedule.”Amanda Welsh, Service Support Manager
“There are so many areas to explore! Your career path can go in any direction. Traveling to different mines has allowed me to see different geographical areas that I didn’t realize. It has also allowed me to meet so many great people.” Amy Sullivan, Sales Support Manager – Mining Business
“Mining isn’t just digging holes in the ground. There are so many facets to the Mining industry and there is a vast and diverse range of roles and professionals available within. Mining is also an international industry, so there is versatility in work location and travel/relocation opportunities. No two days are ever the same and there are constant challenges and new learning experiences to embrace. In addition, a role within the Mining industry provides on-going professional development and training, attractive salaries and benefits, flexible work hours/rosters, excellent networking opportunities and the platform to excel in your chosen role/profession, which can be especially rewarding within a traditionally male-dominated industry.” Aki Bentley, Account Manager
“The industry supports the foundations of our society with operations that are enormous in scale. These operations take place in the most challenging environmental conditions around the world, which can only be accomplished by having access to highly specialized and complex equipment, supported by an incredibly talented group of people. Working in this industry offers so many opportunities to learn and develop professionally.”Erica Baird, Executive Director—Global Sales and Service
“Because there are so few women in mining. Women view the world differently so they bring a lot of positives to the mining industry. There is also so much opportunity globally for work. You can work anywhere in the world and know you are making a major impact on the world at large.”Munkhtsetseg Amarsanaa, Key Account Manager
“According to statistics 90% of employees in Mongolian Mining industry are men. In addition, mining environment is very harsh, and the employees work long distance from their families under tough pressure that gives enormous stress. Women in mining industry can bring fresh perspective and softer touch on work completion and social interactions, which can help to make Mining industry workforce to grow further and more sustainably.”Sarah J. Bilston, Major Accounts Manager
“The mining industry is an exciting place to be at this time because the world is changing, and we get to be part of it. I also love the customer interaction and the travel to the mines—it’s so exciting.” Selenge-Erdene Lkhagvadorj, Key Account Manager
“In the mining industry, there are lot of opportunities to grow and learn new skills. The regardless of gender, anyone can be successful in this industry, if they passionate and inspired about what they do.”Leigha Chadwell, Six Sigma Black Belt – PSBU, Mining & Aftermarket
“The mining industry has so much opportunity for all functions, from marketing to sales to engineering to finance and IT. The industry also has so much challenge ahead with the energy transition, decarbonization, the growing population, and demand for the materials that we mine. Diversity is the answer when we look at how to tackle these issues, and I think women play a key part in this. There is so much opportunity for advancement and professional development opportunity for those that work in the mining industry.”Nyamsuren Ariunbuyan, Key Account Manager
“During my career in mining area, I’ve been learning every single process step of mining and minerals sector from co-workers, customers, investors, suppliers, communities and others. I’m extremely proud of how proactive people are in listening and learning from others in this Mining industry regardless of age, gender.”Virginia A Veruette-maya, Market Support Service Engineer
“I like knowing that my everyday work makes an impact worldwide. Mining is the foundation for everyday life. Whether we’re doing diesel engines on trucks or battery powered school buses or even flying cars, we need the minerals, the metals, the materials—so we need mining for that. Women can bring a different type of mentality or actions to the industry—we nurture differently, we deal with certain situations in different ways. Bringing this different type of mentality into the industry is important and key for us to move forward.”
Cummins, a global power technology leader, is a corporation of complementary business segments that design, manufacture, distribute and service a broad portfolio of power solutions. The company’s products range from internal combustion, electric and hybrid integrated power solutions and components including filtration, aftertreatment, turbochargers, fuel systems, controls systems, air handling systems, automated transmissions, electric power generation systems, microgrid controls, batteries, electrolyzers and fuel cell products.
