Standing on the sidelines of the White House outdoor basketball court, Katie Moreau, a young communications director for an Indiana congressman, watched then-President Barack Obama play a five-on-five game with a bipartisan group of lawmakers. The scene captured everything Katie valued about public service: people from different backgrounds coming together, finding common ground and working toward solutions.
Katie clung to this practice and dedication to working together toward large, complex goals by leveraging the skills of diverse and, sometimes differing, perspectives she experienced in Washington D.C. Years later, as Director of Enterprise Communications Strategy at Cummins Inc., Katie is still bringing people together, this time to tell the story of one of the most significant industrial transformations in history.
“The entire industry is in a time of change, and Cummins is evolving, too,” Katie says.
During her time in Washington, Katie got her first glimpse of Cummins and its distinctive approach to environmental challenges while working for a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Throughout various critical emissions regulation discussions, she witnessed something unexpected.
"It was really exciting to see how much they [Cummins] leaned into it," she recalls. "[Cummins] said, 'These are really challenging regulations and they're better for the environment and communities. We think we can innovate the solutions that will help meet these.' Meanwhile, a lot of other companies and competitors were saying, 'There's absolutely no way.'"
Katie couldn’t get her experience with Cummins out of her mind, and when she joined the company eight years ago, she found herself surrounded by people who shared her commitment to making positive change.
Katie's passion for affecting positive change was fostered by a family legacy of service. It all began with her grandfather, Colonel Don Moreau. The Colonel served in World War II, Vietnam and Korea before becoming the first executive director of Helping Veterans and their Families (HVAF). Katie remembers her grandfather's fierce loyalty and commitment to supporting fellow veterans. His compassion and aid to others passed down to Katie's father who also pursued a career in public service alongside her mother, both of whom instilled in Katie and her siblings a deep sense of purpose.
"We were raised in an environment where it was constantly on your mind about how you could reach out to other people," Katie states. "That's how we were raised - that you are supposed to use your talents for good, to affect change."
Having never worked for a for-profit organization before, paired with the values instilled by her family of helping others and affecting positive change, Katie was skeptical at first of her new position at Cummins. She envisioned walking into the building, everyone in their formal business suits, who would then close the doors to their offices and focus solely on making money, which, she admits, is what a for-profit company and Fortune 150 business intends to do.
"But that's not the climate at all at Cummins," Katie recalls. "It is a focus on delivering for our customers, yes, but it is also such a heavy focus on how you do that while living the company's values and demonstrating leadership behaviors. The expectation is that you engage in teamwork and collaborate with other people."
Today, Katie leads a team responsible for communicating Cummins' key initiatives, including Destination Zero, the company's business and sustainability strategy. Her role requires translating complex technical innovations into clear, compelling stories that resonate with diverse audiences. She approaches this challenge with the same collaborative spirit she learned as a Division I volleyball player at Davidson College.
“You can’t have one good person on a volleyball team and win because you’re completely reliant on every single person on the court,” she explains.
If you've ever had the opportunity to work with Katie, you are aware of her unwavering dedication to ensuring diverse perspectives are heard and integrated into the final product. It's a team-first approach to tackling communication challenges in Katie's court. She builds space for discussion and engagement, listens intently and responds thoughtfully. You're left feeling empowered to act, think big and keep innovating.
Her commitment to diversity isn't just professional - it's personal. Katie's parents intentionally exposed her to people with different life experiences than her own growing up. With that perspective, she views the diversity at Cummins as a competitive advantage in navigating the energy transition.
"As the company has grown fivefold in revenue over the past few decades, so too has our diversity increased," she notes. "That diversity allows us to be closer to the customers in certain parts of the world and understand their needs and how they're going to use the products."
When she looks to the future, Katie is energized by Cummins' evolution. "Cummins could have put its foot down many times over the past few decades and said, 'No, we make diesel engines and that's our bread and butter,'" she says. "But to the discomfort of some, but just forging ahead for a lot of others, is this constant innovation in all aspects of the company."
For Katie, success isn't just about what gets accomplished, it's about how it gets done. Whether she's volunteering with veterans alongside her two sons, coaching youth volleyball or leading communications for a global power technology leader, Katie brings the same commitment to teamwork, inclusion and positive impact that she learned from her family's legacy of service.
"It's this equal focus and emphasis on what you do at Cummins and how you do it," she explains. "You can't succeed or be promoted in this company if you do great work, [but] you treat others unkindly, or don't emphasize our value of diversity and inclusion. That expectation is set from the very top of the company. People truly do walk the talk here."
In an era of unprecedented industrial transformation, Katie Moreau is helping write the next chapter of Cummins’ story, one that proves positive change is always possible with collaboration, dedication to values and commitment to innovation.