- After almost 10 years in the position
- Accolades, praise and thanks for Decker
- Mattew Pine taking over
- Decker made a lengthy statement and said 244 words
(exechange) — Washington, D.C., September 5, 2023 — This news came shortly after Labor Day. Patrick Decker, chief executive of Xylem, leaves his position. As announced by Xylem Inc. in a news release and in a regulatory filing published on Tuesday, September 5, 2023, Patrick K. Decker leaves his post as chief executive officer at the water technology company, after almost 10 years in the role, effective December 31, 2023.
Patrick Decker’s duties as CEO will be taken over by Mattew F. Pine, currently Chief Operating Officer at Xylem Inc.
Patrick Decker’s move coincides with a management shake-up also involving the position of Chief Financial Officer. Xylem has also appointed William Grogan, formerly Chief Financial Officer of IDEX Corporation, to Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, effective October 1, 2023. Grogan succeeds Sandra Rowland who is leaving “to pursue new and different opportunities.” Both Decker and Rowland will remain employed through March 2024 to serve as advisors and support the transitions.
“Long-term succession planning process”
The planned management change is explained as follows. Xylem stated: “In accordance with the Company’s long-term succession planning process, Decker will be succeeded by Matthew Pine, Xylem’s Chief Operating Officer, effective January 1, 2024.”
Precise information regarding Patrick Decker’s future plans was not immediately available.
“Retire”
Xylem said: “[A]fter a distinguished decade leading Xylem, President and Chief Executive Officer Patrick Decker has announced his plans to retire as CEO at the end of 2023.”
Share price increase since September 2018
The announcement follows an increase in Xylem Inc.’s share price of 36% since September 2018.
In the position of CEO since 2014
Patrick Decker became CEO of the Company in 2014.
Patrick Decker was named President and Chief Executive Officer of Xylem in March 2014, and he also serves on the Xylem Board of Directors.
Xylem is a leading global water technology provider, serving customers in more than 150 countries with innovative solutions to their most complex water challenges.
Under Decker’s leadership, Xylem has completed multiple acquisitions that collectively have expanded the company’s portfolio of smart water infrastructure solutions and advanced data analytics capabilities that are applied in water and critical energy services.
Decker has also overseen an expansion of Xylem Watermark, the company’s corporate citizenship initiative.
In addition to continuing its work to provide safe water resources for many of the world’s most vulnerable communities, Watermark now encompasses an ambitious employee volunteerism component that extends to all of Xylem’s nearly 17,000 colleagues.
The company pledged to record 100,000 employee volunteer hours in water-related activities over a three-year period in Xylem communities around the globe.
Decker joined Xylem from Harsco Corporation, a global industrial services company where he was President and CEO since 2012.
Prior to that, he served in several leadership roles at Tyco International, including President of Tyco Flow Control, where he grew revenue significantly in emerging markets and executed the company’s largest acquisitions in Brazil and the Middle East.
Earlier in his career, Decker held progressively responsible financial leadership positions at Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, including nine years in Latin America and Asia.
He started his career with Price Waterhouse LLP.
Decker serves on the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Executive Council on Infrastructure, the Infrastructure Committee for the U.S. Business Roundtable, as well as the advisory council for the Dean of the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University.
He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting and finance from Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana.
244 words by Patrick Decker
In the release announcing his departure as CEO of Xylem Inc., Patrick Decker received accolades, praise and thanks.
In announcing his departure, Patrick Decker made a lengthy statement and said 244 words.
“Accelerate our focus on both economic and social value creation”
Patrick Decker stated: “It has been a tremendous honor to serve as CEO for nearly a decade. I am so proud of the impact the Xylem team has had helping our customers and communities become more water-secure and more sustainable. Having worked side-by-side with Matthew for the past several years, I have full confidence he will continue Xylem’s trajectory of growth and accelerate our focus on both economic and social value creation. I want to thank Rob and our entire Board of Directors for their steadfast encouragement and partnership throughout my tenure. I am excited about Xylem’s next chapter and look forward to working with Matthew over the next several months to ensure a smooth transition… Bill will be an outstanding partner in guiding Xylem’s future, and Matthew and I are thrilled to welcome him to the team. A strategic global finance leader, Bill brings an impressive track record of value creation over 20-plus years. His deep experience delivering profitable organic and inorganic growth, focus on productivity, and disciplined approach to capital deployment will serve Xylem well as we continue on our path to deliver sustained organic growth, margin expansion, and above-market returns… On behalf of our entire company, I want to extend heartfelt thanks to Sandy for her countless contributions as our CFO over the past three years. Her energizing leadership and commitment to excellence have put us in a position of robust financial health and steered us confidently into the next phase of Xylem’s growth.”
Push-out Score for Patrick Decker’s move determined
The Push-out Score indicates on a scale of 0 to 10 how likely it is that Patrick Decker was pushed out or felt pressure to leave his position.
exechange reached out to Xylem and offered the company the opportunity to comment on the score.
Read the full story in the exechange report 37.2023 ($).