Scott Saum, Cummins Water Works Program Manager, on his work and the wealth in his life:
Q: What is the greatest wealth in your life?
Scott Saum: The greatest wealth in my life is my family. My wife and I have been married for five years, and we have a wonderful nine-month-old daughter. We couldn’t be happier.
Q: What do you do and why do you do it?
Scott Saum: I'm the program manager for Cummins Water Works in the Corporate Responsibility function. The program's goal is to strengthen communities through sustainable water initiatives. We look to stand up community projects that improve water quality, water quantity and access to wash water, sanitation, and hygiene in communities around the world. I do what I do to make the world a better place.
Q: What unexpected skill has become invaluable to your professional toolkit?
Scott Saum: In my role, I work with people around the world from a variety of cultures and backgrounds. The ability to collaborate with teams and remain flexible when conflict arises is vital to my role and the success of our projects.
Q: What can Cummins Water Works do to impact the energy transition?
Scott Saum: The goal is to be net water positive in each region by 2030 and in each Cummins community by 2050.
At Cummins, we track our water consumption at every location worldwide, whether it’s a factory, office facility or warehouse. We also aim to establish community projects that offset that water consumption in each community.
We try to tailor projects to meet the needs of each community and support a variety of initiatives, including tree plantings, wetland restoration, cover crop adoption, litter pickups, restroom construction and hand and hygiene education.