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Global Communications Director, Engine Business
Cummins Inc.
Katelyn Prentice said her mission is to rid the world of blah. As global communications director for the $11.7 billion engine business at Cummins, she leads a global team of 30 marketing and communications experts and manages a multimillion-dollar budget. Among her achievements at Columbus-based Cummins has been spearheading the first Destination Zero product announcement (the fuel-agnostic engine platform now known as the HELM portfolio) and leading the team through the rollout of the business’s electrified power portfolio, first hydrogen-powered fuel-cell truck, brand activation in new markets, launch of the business’s digital ecosystem and announcements of global partnerships. “Breathing new energy into the routine and mundane makes me tick,” she said. “I want to figure out the real issues so I can bring to life creative and actionable strategies so that messages connect at the human level.”
Getting here: Prentice began her career as a teacher at Indianapolis Public Schools with Teach for America. She moved on to the Indiana Economic Development Corp., working her way up to director of communications, then joined Cummins as marketing and communications manager of electrified power.
First job: Congressional page for the U.S. House of Representatives her junior year of high school. “I lived in Washington, D.C., for the year, attending school in the attic of the Library of Congress in the mornings and working at the House during the afternoons.”
Givebacks: When her child’s early learning center announced it was closing last year, she was met with an unfortunate reality: Her neighborhood is a child care desert. She needed care for her 9-month-old baby and, after encountering long wait lists, decided to start an early learning center. She founded Midtown Early Learning Center with one of the teachers for children 0-3 years old. It opened its doors last August and now is at full enrollment and has a waitlist.
Lesson learned: “I have a very high degree of self and collective accountability. When I set out to do something, I feel great accountability for seeing it through.”•
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