The President's Management Advisory Board

Tim Solso

Former Chairman and CEO, Cummins, Inc.

Tim Solso

In 1971, after receiving an MBA in Business Administration from Harvard University, Tim Solso went to work for Cummins Inc., a Midwestern engine manufacturer. He began his career as assistant to the Vice President of Personnel and later moved into the operations side of the business. During his career, he has worked in various global locations, including Huddersfield, England, and Sao Paolo, Brazil. After 29 years in the business, he was named Chairman and CEO in 2000.   

Under his leadership, Cummins has become a Fortune 250 company that designs, produces and sells diesel engines, power generation equipment and related components worldwide. The Company currently does business in more than 190 countries and territories.

Mr. Solso currently serves as U.S. Chairman – U.S. – Brazil CEO Forum, is a Director of Ashland Inc. and Ball Corp., the American Transportation Research Institute and is a member of the Business Roundtable and the Indiana Academy. He also serves on the Board of the Initiative for Global Development, Earth University and the Earth University Foundation.

He is a Principal of the American Energy Innovation Council, whose mission is to foster strong economic growth, create jobs in new industries and re-establish America’s energy technology leadership through robust public investments in the development of world-changing energy technologies.

Among his recent honors, Mr. Solso was named as a top five finalist to Marketwatch’s CEO of the Decade and to Barron’s list of the 30 Most Respected CEOs for 2010. He received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor in 2008, was selected as the national Six Sigma CEO of the year and the Anti-Defamation League’s Man of Achievement Award in 2007 and in early 2009 was awarded the William R. Laws Human Rights Award by the Human Rights Commission of Columbus, IN, where Cummins is headquartered.

He formerly served as a member of the Boards of Amoco Corporation, Cyprus AMAX Minerals Inc., Irwin Financial Corporation, the Trustees of DePauw University, the Indiana Economic Development Corporation, the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership and the Heritage Fund of Bartholomew County.

An Oregon native, Mr. Solso, 64, earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from DePauw University in 1969. He was the recipient of the DePauw Distinguished Alumni Award for Management and Entrepreneurship, the Old Gold Goblet. He also has received honorary doctorate degrees from Rose-Hulman University and Franklin College.