Cummins CEO & DePauw Trustee Tim Solso '69 on Cover of Indiana Business Magazine

January 25, 2005

January 25, 2005, Greencastle, Ind. - An Indiana Business magazine cover story profile of Tim Solso, CEO of Cummins Inc. and 1969 graduate of DePauw University, states, "The 57-year-old CEO is a product of Indiana higher education, having earned his bachelor's degree at DePauw University in Greencastle. He's worked his entire career for Cummins, joining the company in 1971 after earning a Harvard MBA. Solso took over as chairman and CEO in 2000."

The article, titled "Cummins Comeback," calls Solso's operation "a transformed company." Cummins lost about $100 million in 2001, yet proits for the first nine months of 2004 totaled $231 million, "leaving the $50 million net income from all of 2003 in the dust. Cummins stock has steadily climbed from about $19 per share in October 2002 to about $80 as 2005 began," writes Steve Kaelble. 

"I think we are smarter about running our business," Solso, who serves on DePauw's Board of Trustees, tells Indiana Business. Burnham Securities auto industry analyst David Healy of raves, "It's amazing. Over the course of 18 months they've gone from a troubled company to one that's generating huge amounts of cash and record earnings. They've gone from famine to feast."

The lengthy piece examines how, under Solso's leadership, "The Cummins of the 21st century is very much a technology company. Yes, it still builds engines, but they're high-tech, low-emission, quieter and more fuel-efficient. Cummins Inc. also makes a variety of filters and other engine- and auto-related products, along with a wide range of power generators. And though its headquarters, biggest center of R&D and major manufacturing operations remain in Columbus [Indiana], Cummins is a truly global corporation, with manufacturing facilities in faraway places and the capability of having engineers on multiple continents cooperating on an issue 24 hours a day."

The January 2005 issue of Indiana Business, which features Tim Solso, is on newsstands now. Visit the magazine's Web site by clicking here.

In October 2004, DePauw's Alumni Association recognized Solso with the Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award for Management and Entrepreneurship.

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