Maryann has never been one to compromise who she is. Her self-awareness and self-confidence are what brought her, unexpectedly, to Cummins in 2015. 

In college, Maryann worked on campus with an environmental regulation compliance team that managed the school's health, safety, and environment (HSE) as she worked toward her master’s degree in chemical engineering at the Florida Institute of Technology. 

“I worked with them for four years while completing my undergrad and master's degrees,” she said, “from the bottom up to the top as a supervisor - I designed safety & environmental policies and procedures for all the university’s science labs.” She ensured they met OSHA, RCRA, and industry standards for handling chemical spills, radioactive material handling, hazardous waste, and more. 

As she neared graduation in 2015, Maryann attended a National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) convention in the hopes of finding a job in chemical engineering. Known for her fashionable, sometimes attention-getting nail color and designs, friends warned her before the conference to “be proper” and “dress neutral to look professional” to ensure potential employers considered her. Ever faithful to herself, Maryann ignored their advice and attended the conference with her signature style wearing long, green nails.

“When I was going to the conference, my friend made fun of my nails, and I was like, ‘what is wrong with the color? I'm going this way,” Maryann said. She was confident that her experience, extracurricular societies and activities on her resume would put her at the top of any candidate list regardless of her nails. And she was right. 

When she saw the Cummins booth at the convention, she stopped. She was somewhat familiar with the company because her father, a civil engineer back in Nigeria, had worked with Cummins generators. Maryann started a conversation with the recruiter who, after talking to her for a few minutes said, “And by the way, I like your nails!” 

Disarmed and charmed, Maryann shared with the recruiter what her friend had said. The recruiter replied, “We don’t worry about those things at Cummins.” From then on, the conversation was easy, and at the end of it, the recruiter asked for Maryann’s resume, impressed with her experience in the environmental space. She let Maryann know Cummins was looking for a Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) position internally. 

The Cummins HSE team is responsible for identifying sustainability opportunities as well as potential hazards. They develop processes and procedures to reduce or remove any risks, and train team members on accident prevention and response so that everyone arrives home safely every day. The goal is for employees to take ownership of their spaces and speak up when things don’t look right; addressing everything from a trip hazard to ways to conserve water. 

In the four years, Maryann worked on the compliance team at her university, she unknowingly developed the exact skillset she would need to work on a  Cummins HSE team. 

“The following week I got called for an interview,” she says, “and the rest is history.”

Maryann began as an intern at the Cummins Technical Center where she worked on a risk assessment tool that improved safety controls by 80%. After graduation, she returned to the Cummins Mid-range Engine Plant (CMEP) to work as an HSE analyst, after which she got the opportunity to be the Global Environmental FE Specialist for PSBU. She continued working in safety and environmental roles at Cummins, where she found a love for management systems.  

Today, Maryann is the North American Regional Audit Lead for Cummins, where she manages a team of six. She provides leadership and strategic support for North America ISO management systems and maintains audit consistency across NA. She conducts on-site, weeklong audit visits to assess risk and policy adherence. She also checks shop floors for risk reduction opportunities. When not on-site, she manages, coaches and trains other auditors, conducts gap analyses, and works on budgets for new site acquisitions.

Her priority is ensuring Cummins employees are surpassing industry safety standards, while reducing company costs and environmental footprint, with a target of zero waste. She takes pride in connecting her work with the company’s Planet 2050 sustainability goals. 

“It’s the ripple effect - that’s how I contribute. We leverage the management systems to reduce the risk at every site, which improves site process, which makes sure Cummins meets set out goals at the end of the day,” she says.  

Aside from her passion for the work, Maryann fell in love with Cummins because of the way everyone’s included. “You know, that warmness that you feel working with Cummins? It cannot be compared to any other companies out there. [My friends] envy how I’m heard and included at my job. At meetings, they ask, ‘Maryann what do you think?’ They want to hear your voice.”  

Maryann appreciates that Cummins isn’t a company that just talks about being diverse and inclusive - they actually practice what they preach. She points to the different avenues they offer, such as employee resource groups, women’s resource groups and the Cummins Black Network. 

“Those groups have taught me how to be inclusive at work,” she says. “It’s one thing to be diverse, but another to make sure everyone is included and heard. Cummins provides different avenues to celebrate your diversity and to include you within your workspace. They make sure everyone feels welcome.”  

They always give me projects that challenge me, teach me, and increase my knowledge and skillsets so I’m more marketable. They invest in me. Cummins understands that when employees are happy, they do more and better work.”

Recently, Maryann felt that inclusivity when she sat on a conference panel with Erica Baird, President of Industrial Business at Cummins Sales & Service North America. She said, “They paid no mind to the difference in our career levels. Me being in the same room, on the same panel and answering the same questions as these women that I look up to, made me realize ‘I could be that person one day.’ Cummins gives you that.”

Though she’s not sure exactly what’s next for her professionally, Maryann knows she’ll one day hold a position that will inspire women of color and of her background to dream big “because I was able to do it,” she says. “I see it happening at Cummins. I see women being President. I see women being CEOs, and I feel like it’s possible.” That possibility - to be seen and heard as your authentic self, from the shop floor to the c-suite - makes a real difference to employees. Take it from Maryann, staying true to yourself can lead to great opportunities - green nails, and all.

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. 

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.

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.

Let the countdown begin!