Dorothy Capers is set to join water technology company Xylem as senior vice president and general counsel on February 7.
Capers will join Xylem’s senior leadership team and report to president and CEO Patrick Decker. She will succeed Claudia Toussaint, who has taken on dual responsibilities as chief human resources and sustainability officer. That is a newly combined position intended to help Xylem’s efforts to further integrate its human capital and ESG strategies.
Capers has been executive vice president, global general counsel and corporate secretary of transport company National Express Group for the last four years, having previously been general counsel for the North America region. During her time with National Express, she led a multinational team managing commercial litigation, environmental compliance, employment and labor matters and she advised on M&A and commercial transactions. She also co-led the company’s global diversity and inclusion committee.
Before working at National Express, Capers was associate general counsel at US Foods. She has also held leadership roles with the City of Chicago Department of Law and the Cook County State’s Attorney Office.
Toussaint joined Xylem as senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary in 2014. During her time with the company, she has led Xylem’s efforts to align business and sustainability strategies, including the establishment of its 2025 sustainability goals to advance progress against water and sustainability challenges within and outside Xylem.
Before joining Xylem, Toussaint was senior vice president, general counsel and secretary of the Barnes Group. She was previously general counsel, corporate secretary and chief ethics officer for Embarq Corporation, which was spun off from Sprint Nextel. Before that she held several positions at Sprint Nextel’s predecessor companies. She began her legal career with Morrison & Forrester.
Decker says in a statement: ‘Dorothy brings diverse experience managing legal, compliance and governance issues across industries and within private and public sector settings. She is a veteran leader of global legal teams, with deep experience in [M&A] and a strong track record of developing and supporting successful public-private partnerships. We are also enthusiastic about adding her passionate voice as a champion of diversity, equity and inclusion across our business. We’re thrilled to welcome her to our leadership team.
‘Claudia’s role as chief human resources and sustainability officer builds on her outstanding work to align our business and sustainability strategies and marks an important step to integrate our human capital and ESG initiatives. Our passionate team of more than 16,000 colleagues is at the heart of our mission.
‘Under Claudia’s leadership, we will continue to invest in our people as the foundation of our business while sharpening our focus on leveraging diversity and building a culture of inclusion to attract and retain the industry’s brightest talent.’
Ben Maiden
Ben Maiden is the editor-at-large of Governance Intelligence, an IR Media publication, having joined the company in December 2016. He is based in New York. Ben was previously managing editor of Compliance Reporter, covering regulatory and compliance...
