Cummins Inc. (NYSE: CMI) announced today that Franklin Chang Díaz,
Chairman and CEO of Ad Astra Rocket Company and former NASA astronaut,
has been elected to the Company’s Board of Directors.
Chang Díaz, 59, becomes the 10th Cummins Board member, and
will serve on the Board’s Safety, Environment and Technology committee,
as well as the Audit, Finance and Governance and Nominating committees.
His term begins immediately and he will stand for re-election at the
Company’s annual meeting next May. All Cummins directors are elected
annually.
Chang Díaz, a native of Costa Rica who moved to the United States as a
teen, brings an extensive technical background to Cummins. In 1980,
three years after graduating from the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology with his doctorate in nuclear engineering, Chang Díaz was
selected by NASA to be an astronaut candidate and earned his astronaut
wings the following year.
During his 25 years at NASA, Chang Díaz was an integral part of the
Space Shuttle program. While at NASA, he flew seven shuttle missions,
logging more than 1,600 hours in space, and continued his research in
applied plasma physics.
Chang Díaz retired from NASA in 2005 and formed Ad Astra Rocket Company
to continue his pioneering work in the VASIMR® rocket engine
design, which NASA plans to deploy on the International Space Station in
2013.
"Franklin’s expertise in advanced engineering and engine technology will
be invaluable to Cummins as we continue our work to be a technical
leader in all our markets,” said Cummins Chairman and Chief Executive
Officer Tim Solso. "In addition, Franklin’s long history of public
service, both at NASA and in his work to promote education in Costa Rica
and throughout Latin America, are a good fit with Cummins’ Mission and
our work to improve the communities in which we operate.”
Chang Díaz was honored with the Liberty Medal in 1986 by President
Ronald Reagan and was a four-time recipient of NASA’s Distinguished
Service Medal, the highest honor awarded by the agency. He currently is
leading Costa Rica’s "Strategy for the XXI Century,” a countrywide
initiative aimed at transforming Costa Rica into a fully developed
nation over the next 40 years.
Chang Díaz and his wife Peggy alternate their home between suburban
Houston and Liberia, Costa Rica. The couple has four daughters, ranging
in age from 14 to 36. In addition to his work at Ad Astra Rocket, Chang
Díaz is an adjunct professor of physics at Rice University and The
University of Houston.
About Cummins
Cummins Inc., a global power leader, is a corporation of complementary
business units that design, manufacture, distribute and service engines
and related technologies, including fuel systems, controls, air
handling, filtration, emission solutions and electrical power generation
systems. Headquartered in Columbus, Indiana, (USA) Cummins serves
customers in approximately 190 countries and territories through a
network of more than 500 company-owned and independent distributor
locations and approximately 5,200 dealer locations. Cummins reported net
income of $755 million on sales of $14.3 billion in 2008. Press releases
can be found on the Web at www.cummins.com.
Forward-looking disclosure statement
Information provided in this release that is not purely historical are
forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements regarding the
company’s expectations, hopes, beliefs and intentions on strategies
regarding the future. It is important to note that the company’s actual
future results could differ materially from those projected in such
forward-looking statements because of a number of factors, including,
but not limited to, general economic, business and financing conditions,
labor relations, governmental action, competitor pricing activity,
expense volatility and other risks detailed from time to time in Cummins
Securities and Exchange Commission filings.