People News: Cummins, WSP, FourKites, Alaska Railroad

Jennifer Rumsey (Photo: Business Wire)

Cummins Inc. (Cummins) President and CEO Jennifer Rumsey is named Chair of the Board of Directors. Also, WSP’s Sallye Perrin is recognized as the American Road and Transportation Builders Association’s (ARTBA) P3 Trailblazer of the Year; FourKites adds three industry veterans to its team; and Alaska Railroad announces promotions and transfers throughout the organization.

Cummins announced on July 12 that its Board of Directors has unanimously elected Cummins President and CEO Jennifer Rumsey to Chair of the company’s Board of Directors, effective Aug. 1, 2023. Rumsey succeeds Tom Linebarger, who is retiring from both of his positions as Executive Chairman and Chairman of the Board, effective July 31, 2023.

Rumsey was first appointed to the Cummins Board of Directors in February 2022 and has served as President and CEO of the company since August 2022. She has held numerous pivotal roles within the company during her more than two decades with Cummins, including Chief Technical Officer, President of the Components business and COO. The combined roles of Chair and CEO, Cummins says, will position Rumsey to “continue leading the company into the future, leveraging her technical expertise, deep understanding of Cummins’ business and powering customers’ success throughout the energy transition.”

“Jennifer’s appointment as Chair comes at a pivotal time for Cummins and the entire industry,” said Linebarger. “Her strategic vision for Cummins, centered on delivering solutions that meet our customers’ needs while reducing our impact on the environment, will help lead our company in the transition to a decarbonized future. On a personal note, I am filled with immense pride and gratitude for the privilege of being part of this remarkable company for the past 30 years. I am delighted to pass this role to Jennifer and firmly believe that she is the ideal leader to guide Cummins at this important time.”

Linebarger served as Cummins’ Chairman and CEO from 2012 to 2022 and as Executive Chairman of the company for the past year. During his 10-year tenure, according to Cummins, the company grew its revenue from $17.3 billion to a record $28.1 billion last year. Linebarger, Cummins says, “spearheaded the evolution of the company to ensure its continued industry leadership,” including the formation of Accelera by Cummins, the company’s zero-emissions solutions business segment, and the broadening of its product portfolio through notable mergers and acquisitions, including the largest-ever in the Cummins’ history with the acquisition of Meritor. Across the cycles, he continued to invest significantly in employee development and wellbeing, leaving behind a highly capable group of diverse leaders. The transition announced today is consistent with the Board’s succession planning and commitment to effective leadership at all levels.

“I am deeply humbled to assume the role of Chair,” said Rumsey. “I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to Tom who has been an extraordinary leader for this company and an invaluable colleague and mentor to me. His leadership of this company has shaped my journey and approach to leadership at Cummins and helped position us for a bright future. As we look ahead, we will continue to create innovative solutions that effectively address our customers’ needs while making a positive impact on the communities we serve. When I became CEO one year ago, I said that we would continue to put people at the center of everything we do, and I am proud to say that our dedicated employees continue to work tirelessly to ensure we remain on course for our ambitious goals as a company. At the top of that list is our commitment to Destination Zero, our strategy to achieve a zero-emissions future, power our customers’ success, grow our business and deliver strong returns to our investors.”

A co-architect of Destination Zero, Rumsey has significantly advanced the company’s decarbonization strategy in her first year as CEO while garnering three consecutive quarterly revenue records in late 2022 and early 2023. During this time, Cummins says it has continued to grow its core business with the acquisition of Meritor, accelerating the development of economically viable decarbonized powertrain solutions, including the industry’s first fuel agnostic powertrain platform, enhancing the sales and service network and expanding customer relationships.

Rumsey is a Columbus, Ind., native and member of the Society of Women Engineers, Society of Automotive Engineers and Women in Trucking Association. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University and a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Throughout her career, Rumsey has been an advocate for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and women in STEM fields. She resides in Columbus with her husband and has two college-age daughters.

Simultaneously, Cummins announced that it has progressed the development of innovative, zero-emissions solutions, “rebranding that business unit and sending a clear signal to customers, employees, prospective talent and policy makers that the company is committed to leading in zero-emission technologies.” In 2022, Cummins invested $1.2 billion in research and development to drive innovation and growth across the business, while delivering strong returns to shareholders. Fulfilling her commitment to keeping people at the center, Rumsey has “forged new partnerships with key customers and led an effort to reconnect employees with Cummins leaders and the Destination Zero strategy following the COVID-19 pandemic,” the company said.

“On behalf of the Cummins Board of Directors, I want to express our deep gratitude to Tom for his leadership of Cummins over the past three decades,” said Cummins Board Lead Director Tom Lynch. “His commitment to Cummins led to tremendous growth and returns for the company. Equally, I am thrilled to have Jennifer join as Chair of the Cummins Board of Directors. She has demonstrated the leadership needed for Cummins’ continued growth and success. In her first year, she delivered record revenues and moved us forward on critical initiatives. Jennifer has the deep technical understanding needed to lead us successfully through the decarbonization journey and a clear ability to lead and develop people. We are all confident that Jennifer will help Cummins continue to flourish.”

WSP announced July 13 that the ARTBA Public-Private Partnerships (P3) Division has awarded its 2023 Trailblazer of the Year Award to WSP USA Senior Vice President Sallye Perrin.

The award, which specifically recognizes advocacy for P3s, promotion of innovative practices and ideas, and exceptional and visionary leadership in the P3 sector, was announced on Wednesday during the 35^th annual ARTBA P3 in Transportation Conference, held at the Grand Hyatt Washington, D.C.

ARTBA’s P3 Awards Program is an annual competition that recognizes individuals, projects, organizations and ideas that demonstrate outstanding achievement in the establishment, delivery and operation of U.S. transportation P3 projects.

According to WSP, Perrin is nationally recognized for her ability to help agencies find innovative and cost-effective means to implement their transit programs and projects and is recognized for her expertise in P3s and alternative delivery. Her recent P3 experience includes the Louisiana I-10 Calcasieu River Bridge P3, the Los Angeles World Airport Automated People Mover P3, and the Michigan I-75 Modernization P3.

“Sallye is tremendous at approaching P3 projects with creative new processes for aligning key partners on shared goals,” said Paula Hammond, a WSP USA Senior Vice President and the ARTBA Chair who jointly nominated Perrin for the award with Deborah Brown, Senior Vice President and Director of Alternative Delivery Advisory Services at WSP USA, and current P3 Division President. “Furthermore, as a woman in this industry, her successful works have been truly trailblazing.”

A professional civil engineer with decades of complex project experience, Perrin has served as a Senior Technical Advisor, Project Director, Project Manager, and Environmental and Planning Manager for transit and highway projects throughout the U.S. and Canada.

Perrin is also the recipient of the 2022 Lifetime Achievement award from P3 Bulletin’s P3 Awards Program.

“It’s about having a really great team of people—including a champion from the owner’s side—who are working together to make these projects happen, and who are willing to listen to different strategies, because there’s no cookie-cutter approach,” Perrin said. “Being able to do this for these mega projects has been terrific and has helped put us put WSP at the forefront of the growth in P3’s and alternative delivery.”

Additionally, Amber Antiuk, an Alternative Delivery Senior Consultant at WSP, was selected to serve on the ARTBA P3 Division Board of Directors for a three-year term.

FourKites on July 13 announced that it has expanded its team with a number of supply chain veterans to “drive innovation for key verticals and help customers maximize the value they derive from the platform.”

• Juliana Ravetto, Vice President of Global Solutions Consulting, focuses on leading, coaching and growing FourKites’ team of global solution consultants, while creating new ways of showcasing the company’s industry-leading solutions. Ravetto has 20 years of supply chain experience focusing on transportation and execution, including her previous role at Blue Yonder, where she was Director of TMS Pre-Sales.

• Tom Gregorchik, Vice President of Industry Strategy, focuses on helping manufacturing companies improve transportation visibility across all modes to ensure their supply chain is running seamlessly across the network. He has more than 20 years of supply chain technology expertise across different disciplines, including execution, planning and strategy. Gregorchik was previously a Senior Industry Principal at Kinaxis, supporting the sales organization in executive value industry positioning and value engineering.

• Boris Freudenfeld, Global Solutions Consultant, Europe, focuses on scaling and tailoring FourKites’ solutions to customer needs in the region. Freudenfeld has a decade of experience in technical sales for software solutions in real-time visibility and supply chain management.

These new hires, FourKites says, come as the company continues its strong, sustained growth across the globe. Over the last 12 months, the company has experienced a 37% year over year increase in customers, as well as nearly 40% growth in the number of shipments tracked in the FourKites platform—across more than 200 countries and territories. Carriers in the FourKites network increased 40% year over year, now totaling 530,000+, with nearly one million downloads of FourKites’ CarrierLink mobile app.

The Alaska Railroad Corporation (ARRC) on July 13 announced the promotion and transfer of several employees to key positions within its operations.

Through late 2022 into 2023, the ARRC celebrated several internal promotions and transfers resulting in leadership changes within its organization.

• In October 2022, Dwayne Atwood promoted to Seward port manager, having previously served as the assistant port manager. He has been with ARRC since 2017.
  
  
• Also in October, Christina Isabelle-Glover promoted from project analyst manager to director of grants. Christina brings over 10 years of railroad experience to her new role and extensive knowledge of grants administration.
  
  
• Amy Kinnaman promoted from assistant controller to controller in February 2023 following the promotion of Michelle Maddox to C.F.O. Amy is responsible for the oversight of the organization’s accounting operations. She brings a strong background in financial and grant reporting to the role.
  
  
• David Greenhalgh transitioned from director of strategic marketing initiatives and guest services to director of freight sales & marketing in March of this year. David brings over 23 years of railroad experience to his new position.
  
  
• In April, Rusty Pochatko became director of car & trailer-on-flatcar (TOFC) and the point of contact for car shops and TOFC operations in both Anchorage and Fairbanks. Rusty is an 8-year veteran of ARRC’s Mechanical Division.
  
  
• April also saw, Tucker Remley promoted from manager to director of guest services filling the role previously held by David Greenhalgh. Tucker demonstrates strong leadership in guest operations, continuing ARRC’s legacy of providing outstanding customer service.
  
  
• Bryan Cothren promoted that same month to director of locomotive maintenance operations and brings extensive mechanical experience to his new role.
  
  
• In June, veteran Corporate Communications Officer Stephenie Wheeler retired, and ARRC welcomed Cat Clarke to the role. A former resident of Nome, Alaska, Cat brings experience in community relations and regulation development.
  
  
• On July 1, Shane Maloney became ARRC’s newest facilities director departing his former position of as manager of real estate. Shane joined ARRC in 2011, holds a Masters of Business Administration and is one of only 44 people in Alaska to hold a Certified Energy Manager (CEM) credential from the Association of Energy Engineers (AEE).

Reflecting over the past several months of employee retirements, transfers and promotions, ARRC President & CEO Bill O’Leary said, “As part of the railroad’s corporate goal to develop and grow leadership from within its ranks, the promotions and organizational advancements highlights the depth of skills held by the talented employees of ARRC. Teamwork and mentorship are foundational as we drive results for our customers and this state. We look forward to continuing to serve our customers with the exemplary level of service they are accustomed.”