C.H. Robinson CLO Dorothy Capers Makes Moves in Tech and Freight

Dorothy Capers arrived as chief legal officer and corporate secretary at C.H. Robinson Worldwide Inc. in May, at a time of deep transformation for the company.

The third-party logistics and freight brokerage company, which was founded in 1905 and had a $19.66 billion market capitalization at Friday’s market close, is leaning into agentic artificial intelligence to help automate and streamline operations under CEO David P. Bozeman. The Eden Prairie, Minn.-based company is generating buzz from financial media and analysts because of share price gains over the last year or so.

“We hold ourselves out to be a tech company that happens to do logistics and brokerage supply chain,” Capers said in a recent phone interview from Minnesota.

“We sit at the intersection of trade and technology and regulation, which means that not only is the legal landscape constantly evolving, but with geopolitical risk it is all evolving, frankly. So, it has been a really great time to join a company that has not only a great trajectory, but also in the midst of so many really weighty issues that need to be addressed,” Capers said.

The company moves freight globally. The US Department of Transportation and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration regulate many of the company’s activities. Lately, shifting tariffs and trade laws also keep her team busy, she said.

Transforming Transportation

Capers joined C.H. Robinson from Xylem Inc., a Fortune 500 water tech company headquartered in Washington, D.C., where she was senior vice president and general counsel from February 2022 to May 2025. She arrived there from National Express Group (now Mobico), another publicly traded transportation firm, where she was global general counsel from March 2015 to February 2022. Before that, she was associate general counsel for US Foods, Inc., a food supplier and distributor, for nearly six years.

“Transportation has been my sweet spot,” she said.

On a typical day, Capers said she meets with legal and business teams, senior leadership, and external counsel to strategize and troubleshoot. She periodically meets with the board of directors. She also oversees government affairs for the company and meets with lobbyists in Washington, D.C..

As companies digitize, she said, they have to manage many responsibilities around data privacy, cybersecurity, and AI governance. They include ensuring with the tech department that the company employs the right tools to secure customer, employee, and other data, she said.

Her other big concerns: “I’d also say that sustainability and ESG have been really, really important. We have growing expectations from customers and regulators to track carbon emissions, ensure that we are sourcing ethically, disclosing the environmental impact. Our sustainability team does an amazing job,” she said.

The company’s big push into AI also affects labor matters, she said. “As automation and lean machine-learning technology happens, we are looking at how our labor force is being impacted by that and whether there are any issues or concerns around how we need to manage our partners and contractors,” she added.

C.H. Robinson works with outside law firms including Faegre Drinker for corporate governance, and Reed Smith’s D.C. office formerly led by A. Scott Bolden, “who I have known for many, many years,” she said. That firm works on matters including Foreign Corrupt Practices Act advice and counsel, she said.

“My mantra, and I’ve already shared this with my team, is that I don’t hire firms, I hire lawyers,” she said.

The company has engaged Thompson Coburn and Gibson Dunn for a lawsuit recently granted certiorari by the US Supreme Court, Shawn Montgomery vs. Caribe Transport 2 LLC and C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc.

The case considers whether a federal law preempts state law claims against brokers for negligently selecting a carrier or driver. It was decided in favor of C.H. Robinson at the US District Court for the Southern District of Illinois, and at the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

“We would like the law to be resolved because it is in flux in various circuits,” Capers said.

Chris Ugarte, C.H. Robinson deputy general counsel, reports to Capers. He said: “She has made an immediate positive impact. Her interpersonal skills are second to none,” he added.

Destined for Change

Capers spent her early years in the crucible of a great transformation: the Civil Rights Movement.

She was born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Her parents moved to Birmingham, Alabama in the early 1960s to manage the A.G. Gaston Motel, a “Green Book” hotel serving African Americans during segregation.

Civil rights leaders including the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Rev. Ralph Abernathy used the motel as a meeting place. Wiley Branton, Sr., an attorney who represented the Little Rock Nine and later became dean of Howard University School of Law and a partner at Sidley Austin, was a family friend from Arkansas.

“He wore a suit and tie and represented himself as the man for making sure that people got justice,” she said, adding that Branton profoundly influenced her career choice.

Her family moved from Birmingham to Glen Ellyn, Illinois shortly after the Gaston Motel was bombed in May 1963, out of her father’s concern for the family’s safety. (Capers was a toddler.)

Capers graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Howard Law. She clerked for the Hon. Harold L. Cushenberry, Jr. with the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, one of her Howard professors.

Capers worked in various litigation roles, including at the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, and at Greene and Letts law firm (now Zuber Lawler) before her first in-house job at Metra Railroad. She returned to government, working for the city of Chicago law department and mayor’s office, before transitioning to US Foods. “I like the ability to use my legal skills but serve as a business leader first,” she said.

Capers serves as a director of the Chicago State University Foundation board and on its governance committee. She’s also a member of Twin Cities Diversity in Practice, which places diverse law students in internships with firms and corporations.

For, Capers, community involvement is a family tradition. “My parents were very focused on making sure that we always pulled other people up. That’s their whole lifelong mission,” she said.