Cummins Inc. announced that Nicole Y. Lamb-Hale has been appointed chief administrative officer and corporate secretary, effective June 1. She will succeed Sharon Barner when she retires on May 31.
“Nicole has spent her career mastering the complex fields of corporate and international law, regulatory compliance and trade policy,” said Jennifer Rumsey, Chair and CEO, Cummins Inc. “She is a visionary and strategic thinker, and as our Vice President and Chief Legal Officer has leveraged her extensive legal expertise, strategic advisory skills and experience in corporate governance to advise, protect and grow our company.”
“A values-based and team-centered leader, Nicole’s skillset and experience make her uniquely qualified to step into the role of Chief Administrative Officer and lead this critical organization during an important time in Cummins’ history,” Rumsey added. “I am excited for her continued, positive impact on our company and our people.”
Lamb-Hale joined Cummins in 2021 as Vice President and Chief Legal Officer, adding Corporate Secretary to her responsibilities in 2023. Since then, she has been a valued member of the Cummins Leadership Team, providing day-to-day legal counsel to Cummins’ global business and functional leaders and leading a diverse team of legal experts across 11 countries. In this role, Lamb-Hale helped lead some of the company’s most complex trade and regulatory matters and transactions, including the acquisition of Meritor, the largest in the company’s history; the spin-off of Cummins’ Filtration Business; and the formation of its battery cell joint venture, Amplify Cell Technologies.
As Chief Administrative Officer, Lamb-Hale will lead a global organization comprised of several functions that provide critical services, expertise and support to Cummins’ businesses around the world. These global functions include: risk management, ethics and compliance, product compliance and regulatory affairs, government relations, communications and corporate responsibility. Lamb-Hale will also continue in her role as Corporate Secretary, ensuring the company’s compliance with corporate governance standards and advising Cummins’ Board of Directors.
Prior to joining Cummins, Lamb-Hale held executive leadership roles in two global firms: Kroll, LLC, a global risk advisory firm, and Albright Stonebridge Group, a global strategic advisory and commercial diplomacy firm. Before that, Nicole was nominated by U.S. President Obama and unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve as the Assistant Secretary for Manufacturing and Services in the U.S. Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration (ITA). In this role, she was the Chief Executive Officer of the industry-facing unit of ITA, serving as the liaison between U.S. industry and the federal government. Nicole also served as Deputy General Counsel for the U.S. Department of Commerce and as an equity partner in two global law firms.
Lamb-Hale is an independent director on the corporate boards of Federal Realty Investment Trust (NYSE: FRT) and of Kroll, LLC. She also serves as a board director for the Cummins Foundation, as well as several other non-profit boards, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation and the Center for International Private Enterprise. In addition, Lamb-Hale is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and an emeritus member of the Dean’s Advisory Council of the Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies at Indiana University (Bloomington, IN). She is a graduate of the University of Michigan and Harvard Law School.
