Cummins Chief Technical Officer to Retire

Fier	Wood

Jan. 10, 2023 – Cummins Inc. vice president and chief technical officer Jim Fier will retire at the end of March after 36 years with the company. 

Fier will be succeeded by Jonathan Wood, currently Cummins’ vice president of New Power Engineering.

“I am grateful for Jim’s leadership, friendship, and commitment to delivering on our brand promise to our customers, advocacy in building our global technical capability, and advancing our diversity, equity and inclusion work,” said Jennifer Rumsey, president and CEO, Cummins Inc. “His legacy at Cummins will be felt for many years to come.”

Fier spent his entire professional career at Cummins.

He began as a service engineer, then worked in current-product support, new-product introduction, and R&T. His experience brought broad technical knowledge and leadership experience, while accelerating the development and launching of engine platforms and innovations.

Chief technical officer since 2019, Fier played a key role in ensuring that Cummins innovates and delivers the right solutions to customers at the right time.

His leadership of simulation-based product development has bolstered Cummins’ ability to develop products that address the critical needs of customers, meet stringent requirements of emissions, and position the company to lead during the energy transition.

In addition, he and his global teams have led Cummins’ key initiatives to address the global climate crisis, including PLANET 2050 and Destination Zero, the company’s zero-emission strategy.

Wood is Experienced Successor

“Given the significance of this role,” said Rumsey, “we have been working for quite some time on a thoughtful and planned transition and I am thrilled that Jonathan Wood will assume the CTO role.”

Rumsey said that Wood’s career has been defined by commitment to technical excellence and caring approach to leadership.

Wood’s experience in Cummins’ Components and New Power businesses qualify him to be CTO as the company develops innovative technologies, according to Rumsey.

Based in the United Kingdom, Wood joined Cummins in 1994 as part of the Cummins Turbo Technologies (CTT) Aftermarket and Service team.

His more recent roles include executive director of engineering -Turbo Technologies at CTT; executive director of engineering - Emission Solutions; and vice president – Components Engineering.

While at CTT, Wood was based in Wuxi, China, leading the Asia Engineering Organization, and also was the Europe ABO Technical Leader from 2017- 2022.

Throughout his career, Wood has developed global engineering teams and championed diversity and inclusion across the technical organization.

Wood has master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Sheffield, is a Chartered Engineer with the Institute of Mechanical Engineers, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts, Manufactures and Commerce.

He will continue to be based in the U.K. and travel globally to connect with key stakeholders.