Xylem Inc. (NYSE: XYL) announced two executive leadership appointments effective July 1, elevating Meredith Emmerich, a former Carrier Global HVAC executive, to lead the water technology company's Measurement and Control Solutions segment. Xylem's Meredith Emmerich appointment puts her in charge of one of the company's core operating units as she succeeds a 17-year Xylem veteran who is transitioning into an advisory capacity.
From Applied Water to Measurement and Control Solutions
Emmerich has been named executive vice president and president of Measurement and Control Solutions, moving over from her previous role as executive vice president and president of Applied Water at Xylem. Both appointments report to Xylem President and Chief Executive Officer Matthew Pine.
Emmerich joined Xylem in 2024 after a career at Carrier Global Corporation, where she served as vice president of Global Enterprise Solutions and held several senior leadership roles. Her background at Carrier included leading the Americas Commercial HVAC business and the company's Global Residential, Light Commercial and VRF HVAC portfolio, giving her direct experience in the same building-systems and climate-control markets that overlap with parts of Xylem's water technology business, including building services and water measurement applications.
A Planned Transition for a Long-Tenured Executive
Emmerich succeeds Mike McGann, who has led Measurement and Control Solutions and will now serve as senior advisor to Xylem to ensure what the company described as a smooth and orderly transition before he departs later this year. McGann's tenure with Xylem spans 17 years, and his move into an advisory role rather than an abrupt departure signals a leadership handoff more than a case of an executive being pushed out.
Xylem's Measurement and Control Solutions segment covers instrumentation and control technology used to monitor and manage water systems, a category that has taken on growing importance for municipalities and utilities working to reduce water loss, meet efficiency mandates and modernize aging infrastructure with digital monitoring tools. Growing regulatory pressure to cut non-revenue water losses — water that is treated and pumped but never billed due to leaks or metering errors — has made accurate measurement and control technology an increasingly central part of utility capital planning nationwide.
A Second Move: Joe Johnston Takes Over Applied Water
The reshuffle also elevates Joe Johnston to executive vice president and president of Applied Water, the role Emmerich is vacating. Johnston most recently served as senior vice president and general manager within Xylem's Water Solutions and Services segment, where he led the company's Global Dewatering business. He has held leadership roles across Xylem since joining the company in 2019.
Applied Water serves customers across building services, industrial and agricultural end markets, making it one of Xylem's more diversified segments in terms of the sectors it touches. Johnston's promotion keeps that unit's leadership within the existing executive bench rather than bringing in an outside hire, a pattern Xylem has followed for both of the appointments announced alongside Emmerich's move.
Why the Appointment Matters Beyond Xylem
For the HVAC industry specifically, Emmerich's ascent is notable because it reflects a broader pattern of senior talent moving between adjacent building-systems sectors — water technology, HVAC and building controls — as companies in each space increasingly compete for executives with cross-disciplinary experience in mechanical systems, energy efficiency and large commercial accounts. Xylem's own building-services exposure, though smaller than its core water utility business, gives Emmerich's HVAC background direct relevance to at least part of her new portfolio, particularly as building owners increasingly look for integrated approaches to managing both water and energy consumption within the same facility.
Xylem did not disclose compensation details or additional organizational changes tied to the appointments. Both moves took effect July 1, and the company's statement framed the changes as part of an orderly succession plan rather than a response to any specific performance or strategic issue within either segment.
A Pattern of Cross-Industry Executive Movement
Emmerich's move follows a recognizable pattern in large industrial companies of recruiting executives from adjacent sectors to bring fresh commercial perspective into established business units. HVAC and water technology companies increasingly compete for many of the same institutional and municipal customers — universities, hospital systems, data centers and large commercial real estate portfolios — that must manage both climate control and water infrastructure as part of broader sustainability and resilience mandates, making cross-sector executive experience an increasingly valued asset on both sides of the aisle.
