Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Ala’a Wafa didn’t plan to be at Cummins Inc. for long. In 2010, she was graduating from law school and the US economy was in a downturn. Offers her friends received from prospective firms were being rescinded; finding a legal job Wafa would love now seemed impossible to her. To be safe, she applied for a range of jobs, both in and out of the legal field.
The following year, Wafa accepted an offer from Cummins for a Six Sigma Black Belt role—essentially a project manager to the nth degree. She envisioned a two-year stint with the company before leaving to obtain legal experience elsewhere, as she had been told that a background in private practice was necessary to landing an in-house role.
Having gotten to know Cummins’ legal team as a Six Sigma Black Belt and impressing then General Counsel Sharon Barner, she proved her aptitude to work alongside them. But the legal department had historically lacked the capacity to train a fresh lawyer—until she told Barner about her plan to leave.
“I think if you talk to anyone here, you will hear about how active Cummins is in its communities. It’s just a part of being at Cummins.”
Ala’a Wafa
A recent shakeup in the executive team led to an unexpected opportunity: a chance to join the legal department. Despite Wafa not having private practice experience, Barner gave the recent law school graduate a chance.
“I’ll never forget it,” Wafa says. “She said, ‘New leadership, new philosophy. If you take a chance on me, I’ll take a chance on you.’”
Nearly fourteen years and two promotions later, Wafa remains a committed member of Cummins’ legal team, and her reasons for staying are as varied as the roles she’s held.
It seems unlikely that Wafa, a lifetime social and human rights activist, would feel so welcomed at a global power solutions company that sells products ranging from advanced diesel and natural gas to electric and hybrid power trains. But Cummins shares Wafa’s dedications.
Having served in the US Senate early in her career as the first Muslim American Senate staffer wearing the hijab (a Muslim head covering) and being the granddaughter of Palestinian refugees, Wafa spent much of her time working to build bridges between people of different faiths and identities. She envisioned herself in a legal career that combined this passion with the law and was pleasantly surprised to learn of Cummins’ history and involvement with social justice.
“Very early at Cummins, I learned that a former Cummins CEO, J. Irwin Miller, had helped plan the March on Washington with Martin Luther King Jr.,” Wafa recalls. “Cummins pulled out of South Africa during the apartheid. They also threatened to pull out of Indiana if homes weren’t sold to African Americans during the civil rights movement. I was blown away by their dedication to social justice.”
Wafa began taking part in Cummins’ community and social justice initiatives, finding new ways to bring people together, celebrate their backgrounds, and reach out to the communities in which Cummins operates. In 2016, the Columbus Human Rights Commission recognized Wafa for her contributions to the community by awarding her the William R. Laws Human Rights Award.
“I think if you talk to anyone here, you will hear about how active Cummins is in its communities,” Wafa says. “It’s just a part of being at Cummins.”
Wafa says another reason she’s stayed is the sheer amount of investment others have been willing to give in her own growth and development. As she has built out new capabilities, she’s been offered new challenges and responsibilities. When she first joined the legal department, Wafa was given the opportunity to move around to different practice areas every few months to gain more in-house experience. Then she was allowed to pick her area of expertise, which happened to be the opposite experience her law firm colleagues were having.
Ala’a Wafa
“The general counsel said, ‘New leadership, new philosophy. If you take a chance on me, I’ll take a chance on you.’”
Through a mentorship program at Cummins, Wafa was also paired up with the company’s CEO for a year, getting to meet regularly and learn about one another. She says the mentorship was extraordinary and, yet again, reaffirmed her belief in the organization and its leaders.
Wafa is now experienced in labor and employment law as well as intellectual property law. She recalls being the lawyer with no firm experience who, after years of hard work, earned the responsibility of managing a global trademark and anticounterfeiting portfolio for a multibillion-dollar company.
In 2019, Wafa elected to move back exclusively into labor and employment law. She says it’s a place where she feels empowered to use the law and common values at Cummins to help its employees.
Wafa found a true rarity at Cummins, a company that genuinely practices what it preaches and remains committed to values that are lived by employees around the world. In Wafa, Cummins found a legal sponge, a committed activist who wants to make her world a better place, and the kind of person who belongs on the team.