Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Parade gets acquired, women are being replaced by men in the C-suites of retail’s biggest companies, and Cummins’ CEO builds on a 104-year-old legacy. Have a wonderful Wednesday!
– Powerful leadership. Jennifer Rumsey grew up in Columbus, Ind. It didn’t mean much to her at the time, but the city is the headquarters of Cummins, a 104-year-old manufacturer that produces power generators and diesel engines.
Rumsey started working for Cummins 24 years ago and became the company’s CEO this time last year. With revenues of $28 billion, Cummins is ranked No. 146 on the Fortune 500, making Rumsey one of the 52 female CEOs who lead 10.4% of Fortune 500 businesses.
As she marks one year in the CEO job for her hometown manufacturer, Rumsey is reflecting on what drew her to Cummins and what has kept her there for more than two decades. In college, she studied mechanical engineering and got a job working for a fuel cell startup, which she thought would be integral to the future of environmentally-friendly energy. But the experience didn’t feel rewarding. “I realized I was working long hours on a technology that was far from being actually used by a customer and making a real impact in the world,” she says.
She arrived at Cummins as the company was focused on reducing the environmental impact of diesel engines used in trucking, agriculture, marine power, and more. That felt like it had more of a real-world impact.
Rumsey has risen through the ranks, overseeing several different engineering categories and Cummins’ components business before serving as chief technical officer and then CEO.
Her approach to leadership is inspired by her experience as a woman in engineering—”I have had people comment that I don’t look like an engineer”—and by the business leaders who preceded her. Cummins’ longtime CEO J. Irwin Miller was an early believer in stakeholder capitalism, which acknowledges the needs of employees and communities, not just shareholders. As leader of the National Council of Churches, he helped organize the 1963 March on Washington; later, the company exited South Africa during the apartheid regime. (Miller was also known for his contributions to modern architecture.) Miller died in 2004, just a few years after Rumsey joined the company.
For Rumsey, continuing that legacy means building a diverse team and addressing the company’s role in climate change through various commitments to develop new technologies, reach net-zero, and reduce greenhouse gasses. The company says it reduced greenhouse gasses 31% between 2018 and 2021.
“As I was becoming CEO, I realized that we are really at a unique and critical time for our business—and for our world,” she says. “Climate change is a real crisis. And we have a responsibility and a role to play in helping to address it.”
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
@_emmahinchliffe
The Broadsheet is Fortune’s newsletter for and about the world’s most powerful women. Today’s edition was curated by Joseph Abrams. Subscribe here.
ALSO IN THE HEADLINES
- Matching set. Parade, the online underwear brand founded by Cami Téllez in 2019 as an inclusive alternative to Victoria’s Secret, has been acquired by Ariela and Associates International. The firm is a veteran of the intimates industry led by Ariela Esquenazi. CNBC
- Out of style. Gender representation is on the decline in retail’s C-suite as men are replacing female executives at major retailers. While a majority of retail purchases are driven by women, and entry-level workers in the industry are predominantly female, companies like Gap and Victoria’s Secret have ditched their female leaders. New York Times
- Minding the gap. Yesterday was Mothers’ Equal Pay Day, and new research shows that wage equality is still an average of 26 cents away. For every dollar that a working father earns, full-time working moms, on average, make only 74 cents, with considerable variation across states and racial categories. USA Today
- Pulling the strings. While Dave Portnoy sucks up media attention for his $1 buy-back of Barstool Sports from Penn Entertainment, Barstool CEO Erika Ayers Badan is behind the scenes leading the company into the future. Ayers Badan has run Barstool Sports for seven years, turning what was then a dentist office blog cave into a media powerhouse, all while protecting it from controversy. Vanity Fair
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
- Feinstein feud. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) has accused the trustees of her late husband’s estate of committing financial elder abuse for “wrongfully withholding distributions” from her in a new lawsuit. Feinstein, who is represented by her daughter in litigation matters, alleges that the trustees diverted funds meant for Feinstein’s trust to her late husband’s daughters. San Francisco Chronicle
- Reality hurts. Allegations of mental and physical harm on the set of reality TV shows are being hurled at NBC Universal by a group of lawyers partnering with reality TV organizer Bethenny Frankel. A letter from the lawyers promises a coming lawsuit against the media giant, alleging "depraved mistreatment of reality stars and crew members." Vulture
- Brazil's 'Barbie.' Maria da Graça Xuxa Meneghel, known widely as Xuxa, became Brazil’s golden girl in the ‘80s and ‘90s with hit movies, songs, and a widely popular children’s show. Now, however, she’s reckoning with the way her example reinforced toxic and white-dominated beauty standards. New York Times
ON MY RADAR
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PARTING WORDS
"The only satisfaction may be that the system is working."
—Hillary Clinton on the fourth indictment of her 2016 presidential election opponent Donald Trump
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