Quitting is not an option for Jesse

“Never quit. Quitting is not an option. I would never give up on something. It’s just who I am. I couldn’t imagine giving up.”

Jesse, an IT Process Maturity Leader at Cummins Inc., not only said those words, but as an ex-military man, he had the opportunity to live them. In 2007, Jesse was severely wounded in Army combat. More than wounded, he was shot in the head. 

“The bullet went through my brain and took out my left eye,” he says. “I lost a third of my brain, about the size of a lime.” 

Confronted with significant adversity, Jesse did not quit. Not only did he somehow miraculously live through this trauma, but he has also been able to thrive. After his recovery, Jesse attended college, got married, had children and worked for security companies in a corporate role. It was through one of his security contracts that he was introduced to Cummins. 

Jesse’s security performance impressed the man who would become his first boss at Cummins. In 2018, he was asked to join the Cummins team in a security advisory role. Over the next three years he completed multiple security process improvement projects and was noticed by the Corporate Six Sigma Black Belt team. In 2021, Jesse  transitioned into a two-year, Six Sigma Black Belt developmental program where, as a Corporate Black Belt Manager, he led various Six Sigma projects, along with mentoring others in the company who want to run their own Six Sigma projects. 

Now as an IT Process Maturity Leader, Jesse is responsible for developing and implementing an IT Maturity baseline and assessment framework, which is designed to foster ongoing enhancement of IT services, aiming to achieve world-class standards and make interactions with IT straightforward and user-friendly.

 “The focus of my immediate team is to ensure IT processes that enable business outcomes are simple, streamlined and protect Cummins,” he says.  A typical day for Jesse consists of analyzing IT maturity assessments, processing efficiency assessments, and  exchanging thoughts to align top priorities while determining prioritized process improvement. “I really like the projects I am working on.” he says. “I think it is fun to analyze large amounts of data and be responsible for determining the best course of improvement action and making it happen.” 

Jesse uses his military and Six Sigma training to assess all angles and prioritize the next steps for improvement. 

As an ex-military infantryman, he considers himself a layman and is not used to breaking the chain of command. So, he specifically enjoys the accessibility to leadership at Cummins. 

“Because of my clients and my involvement with the Veterans Employee Resource Group (ERG), I get to talk to people high up in the company,” he says. “It’s interesting when you talk to someone above you. I love that leadership engagement. They seem truly invested in me and in helping me into my next role at Cummins, almost in a mentorship-type way. I think that’s really cool.” 

What’s also cool is the work Jesse has done to create a space for veterans to feel valued and seen at Cummins. As the Co-chair of the Cummins Corporate Veteran ERG, he has created merchandise like t-shirts and hoodies to gift to veterans to wear at work with pride. 

“I’m like a lobbyist working with [Diversity, Equity and Inclusion] to provide more veteran recognition and activities,” he says. 

Jesse also helped design a Cummins challenge coin. Challenge coins are a military tradition involving small coins stamped with an organization’s brand or emblem. They are carried on travels and exchanged for other challenge coins or given as a gift. For Jesse, it was a big win to have a challenge coin created with a Cummins logo. 

“For military veterans, challenge coins can also act as recognition for something they did above and beyond their normal duty,” he says. “Here at Cummins, they are a way to make veteran employees feel more recognized.”

When Jesse started at Cummins, there were only a handful of ways to acknowledge employees who were veterans. Through his leadership, he helped change the culture at Cummins. 

“I believe I’m making an impact by making veterans more visible and adding to their well-being through the ERG. Adding these things, I think, will make a lasting impression,” he says.