Nicole Y. Lamb-Hale is Vice President and General Counsel of Cummins, Inc. (NYSE: CMI), a Fortune 200 global power leader that designs, manufactures, distributes and services a broad portfolio of power solutions. In this role, Ms. Lamb-Hale oversees a global team of lawyers and other professionals, has global responsibility for the company’s legal matters, is an officer of the company, and a member of the company’s global leadership team.
Ms. Lamb-Hale has extensive manufacturing and global supply chain management experience from her 18 years of private law practice, her distinguished service as a U.S. Senate confirmed trade official, her consulting practice dedicated to helping companies identify and mitigate commercial risks; and her current work as Vice President and General Counsel of Cummins, Inc. In her private law practice, Nicole represented global original equipment manufacturers and Tier One and Tier Two suppliers in significant business transactions, including out of court restructurings and bankruptcy proceedings. Her work ranged from negotiating customer accommodation and access agreements in the automotive industry to crafting cross border strategies addressing the interplay between U.S. and foreign legislative and regulatory regimes. In her policy and advocacy role as the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Manufacturing and Services in the International Trade Administration at the U.S. Department of Commerce, her work included negotiating with foreign government counterparts on significant market access issues such as offsets and localization, and advocacy on behalf of U.S. companies pursuing foreign government tenders. In her consulting practice, Ms. Lamb-Hale worked closely with manufacturing companies to evaluate strategic business opportunities and navigate the interplay between their business objectives and the regulatory environments of global markets.
Prior to joining Cummins, Ms. Lamb-Hale was a Managing Director at Kroll, the head of its Washington, DC office and a Fellow of the Kroll Institute, a think tank associated with the firm. Her areas of focus included cross border regulatory investigations and compliance, investigative due diligence, and market entry support. As a Kroll Institute Fellow, Ms. Lamb-Hale regularly provided commentary on trade and compliance matters for multiple media outlets including CNBC, Bloomberg Business, Fox Business, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal. Before joining Kroll, she was a Senior Vice President of Albright Stonebridge Group, where she provided strategic advice to companies in the development and implementation of their global business objectives, including the expansion of their exports to, and presence in, international markets.
A passionate advocate for business, Ms. Lamb-Hale was nominated by President Obama and unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve as the Assistant Secretary for Manufacturing and Services in the U.S. Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration (ITA). In this role, she was the Chief Executive Officer of the industry-facing unit of ITA, serving as the liaison between U.S. industry and the federal government regarding access to international markets and U.S. policies impacting the competitiveness of U.S. exports. She also served as the Department’s lead on the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) where she represented the interests of the Department in its review of the national security implications of proposed foreign investment in U.S. businesses. In addition, she regularly led business delegations on international trade and trade policy missions during which she negotiated with senior foreign government officials on the elimination of regulatory and legal impediments to trade to create policy environments conducive to free trade and to mitigate market access barriers to U.S. exports.
Prior to her service as Assistant Secretary, Ms. Lamb-Hale served by Presidential appointment as the Deputy General Counsel for the U.S. Department of Commerce. In this role, she was the Chief Operating Officer of the Office of General Counsel, where she managed a $50 million operating budget and 300 attorneys and assisted the General Counsel as the legal advisor to the Secretary of Commerce.
A native of Detroit, Michigan, Ms. Lamb-Hale practiced law in two major law firms where she specialized in business restructuring in the manufacturing industry and public finance. Throughout her legal career, Ms. Lamb-Hale advised boards of directors and senior executives on strategies and solutions to strengthen their financial position or to take advantage of acquisition or sale opportunities. After practicing as an equity partner with the Michigan based law firm of Dykema Gossett PLLC, where she served as the chair of the bankruptcy practice and as hiring partner, Ms. Lamb-Hale joined the law firm of Foley & Lardner LLP as an equity partner where she continued her counseling of corporate clients in significant business transactions, including out of court restructuring and bankruptcy. In addition to her client work, Ms. Lamb-Hale served as the Managing Partner of the firm’s Detroit office. As the Chief Executive Officer of the Detroit office, Ms. Lamb-Hale managed 80 employees and a $100 million operating budget. She was responsible for new business development, attorney recruitment and the implementation of the firm’s business and marketing strategies in the Michigan market. During her three-year tenure as Managing Partner, the net income of the Detroit office increased by 23 percent.
Ms. Lamb-Hale has been active in civic and community affairs throughout her career for which she has received recognition over the years. She currently serves on the board of trustees of The Holton-Arms School in Bethesda, Maryland, where she is the immediate past President of the Corporation and past chair of the audit committee. She also serves on the board of the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) and on the advisory board of the American Leadership Initiative. Ms. Lamb-Hale is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations where she recently served on its Independent Task Force on U.S. Innovation Strategy and National Security. She was recently appointed to the Dean’s Advisory Council of the Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies at Indiana University Bloomington.
Ms. Lamb-Hale serves as an independent director on the boards of Federal Realty Investment Trust, a S&P 500 index member (NYSE: FRT) and of Delta Parent Holdings, Inc., the parent company of Kroll, LLC. She also serves on the advisory board of Coaster Pedicab, Inc.
Ms. Lamb-Hale attended the University of Michigan where she studied in the Honors College and earned her A.B. with high honors in Political Science. She earned her J.D. from Harvard Law School.