Cummins named Tom Linebarger as the successor to Tim Solso as company chairman and CEO, effective the first of the year.
Solso, 64, announced his retirement on July 12 after serving as the company head since 2000. Linebarger, 48, has been Cummins president and COO since 2008 and previously was president of Cummins Power Generation and also CFO.
“The time has come to say thank you and best wishes to an extraordinary business leader and a wonderful human being,” said Alexis Herman, lead director of the Cummins board of and chair of the Governance and Nominating Committee. “Tim has led the company through many years of record performance and outstanding shareholder returns. He championed Cummins’ international growth and the importance of a diverse workforce. Equally impressive has been his unwavering focus on corporate responsibility and making a difference in the communities where Cummins does business.”
That growth included a tenfold increase in Cummins’ market capitalization. Sales grew from $6.6 billion in 2000 to $13.2 billion in 2010, the company’s best year ever in terms of profitabililty in excess of $1 billion. During that same period, shareholders received a 1,300 percent return as two stock splits and four divend increases brough back $1 billion worth of stock.
Cummins’ international business grew from 40 percent of sales in 2000 to more than 60 percent in 2010, including more than 50 joint venture partnerships around the globe. The company was also among the first to meet EPA diesel emission standards in 2002, 2007 and 2010.
Solso was named a top five finalist to Marketwatch’s CEO of the Decade in 2010 and to Barron’s list of the 30 Most Respected CEOs for 2010 and 2011. In 2007, he was selected as the national Six Sigma CEO of the year and received the Anti-Defamation League’s Man of Achievement Award. That same year he was named the International Executive of the Year by the Academy of International Business and received the American Business Award for Best Chairman.
“With Tom as CEO, Cummins will remain committed to the strategic principles, business objectives and core values that have been the hallmark of our business success,” Solso added. “The company’s focus will be on profitable growth, providing better products and services for customers and maintaining a strong commitment to the environment and the communities where we do business.”
In other company news, Cummins announced that the board of directors increased the company’s quarterly cash divident on common stock by 52 percent to 40 cents per share from 26.25 cents per share. The dividend is payable on Sept. 1.
