Walmart Names John Furner as Next CEO in Leadership Overhaul Focused on AI

On Feb. 1, Walmart Inc. will do something it has not done in more than a decade: change chief executives at the top of the world’s largest retailer.

John R. Furner, 51, currently president and CEO of Walmart U.S., will succeed C. Douglas “Doug” McMillon as president and CEO of Walmart Inc., the company said in a November securities filing. McMillon, 59, will retire as chief executive effective Jan. 31 after 12 years in the role, closing a tenure that spanned a major digital expansion, wage increases and an unprecedented period of pandemic-era disruption.

The handoff, however, is not happening in isolation. As Walmart prepares for its first CEO transition since 2014, the Bentonville, Arkansas-based company is also reshaping its leadership ranks around artificial intelligence, automation and data-driven growth. The moves signal that Furner’s mandate is not only to preserve Walmart’s low-price model, but to run the $681 billion retailer as what executives describe as a “people-led, tech-powered” business.

A leadership shuffle timed to the CEO transition

In a Jan. 16 announcement outlining broad leadership changes effective the same day Furner takes over, Walmart framed the new structure as a response to rapid advances in AI.

“These leadership changes also mark a key step in how we organize for the future,” the company said in a statement attributed to Furner. “As AI rapidly reshapes retail, we are centralizing our platforms to accelerate shared capabilities” across the business.

Under the plan:

• David Guggina, now executive vice president and chief e-commerce officer for Walmart U.S., will become president and CEO of Walmart U.S., the company’s largest operating segment.
• Chris Nicholas, president and CEO of Sam’s Club U.S., will move to lead Walmart International, overseeing operations in 17 countries.
• Latriece Watkins, executive vice president and chief merchandising officer for Walmart U.S., will become president and CEO of Sam’s Club U.S.

At the corporate level, Seth Dallaire, currently chief growth officer for Walmart U.S., will be elevated to executive vice president and chief growth officer for Walmart Inc., with an expanded global portfolio. He will oversee Walmart Connect (digital advertising), Walmart+, Walmart Data Ventures, the Vizio connected-TV platform in which Walmart acquired a majority stake, Sam’s Club’s media and advertising platform, and Walmart’s global third-party marketplace.

The appointments formalize a shift in power inside Walmart. For decades, the company’s structure revolved around its U.S. stores business and traditional merchandising roles. The new setup concentrates authority in growth platforms, data and automation-heavy operations, while placing digitally experienced executives at the helm of each major segment.

Executives with supply-chain, international and merchandising credentials

Guggina previously led Walmart’s U.S. supply chain operations and has been at the center of efforts to automate distribution centers and speed delivery. Under his watch, Walmart built delivery capabilities that now reach about 95% of U.S. households in under three hours, the company has said.

Nicholas, a former chief financial officer for both Walmart U.S. and Walmart International, brings experience in more than 10 countries. Watkins, who started as a Walmart intern in 1997, has held roles across Sam’s Club, human resources and merchandising.

Furner, like McMillon, began his Walmart career in an hourly role. He joined the company in 1993 as an associate at Store 100 in Bentonville and rose through merchandising and international posts before leading Sam’s Club and later Walmart U.S. As Sam’s Club chief from 2017 to 2019, he delivered 11 consecutive quarters of comparable sales growth and strong membership gains, according to the company. He has led Walmart’s U.S. stores and e-commerce operations since late 2019.

Walmart board chairman Greg Penner said in November that Furner was chosen for his broad experience across the business. “John Furner is the right leader to guide Walmart into our next chapter of growth and transformation,” Penner said in a statement. “He understands every dimension of our business.”

McMillon, who joined Walmart as a warehouse worker in 1984 and became CEO in 2014, will remain on the board until the company’s annual shareholders meeting in June and serve as an executive officer and adviser reporting to the chairman through January 2027. “This is the right time to retire because the company is in such great shape and because John is more than ready to lead this company through another set of transformations,” McMillon said in remarks released by Walmart.

Walmart’s “adaptive retail” push puts AI at the center

Those transformations increasingly revolve around artificial intelligence.

Since 2024, Walmart has outlined what it calls an “adaptive retail” strategy that leans on proprietary generative AI models trained on decades of retail data, an internal large language model referred to as “Wallaby,” and an augmented reality engine known as “Retina” that can automatically create thousands of three-dimensional product images. The company says those tools are designed to personalize shopping, improve product discovery and reduce returns.

Walmart has also moved to embed AI at the digital front door. In October 2025, it announced a partnership with OpenAI to create “AI-first shopping experiences,” including the ability for customers to shop Walmart through ChatGPT and use an “instant checkout” feature to build baskets, plan meals and reorder staples. Walmart is rolling out ChatGPT Enterprise to internal teams and promoting OpenAI certifications as part of its employee training programs.

In January, Walmart and Google said they would integrate Walmart and Sam’s Club inventory into Google’s Gemini AI assistant, using a common “universal commerce” protocol intended to make it easier for consumers to discover and buy products across platforms.

Behind the scenes, the retailer has spent years automating its supply chain. It has deployed AI-enabled robotics from Symbotic in regional distribution centers and, in 2025, agreed to sell its Advanced Systems and Robotics business to Symbotic while committing to roll out more than 400 in-store automation systems to speed pickup and delivery. Walmart has also cited AI in tools that shorten fashion product development timelines and in customer service systems that it says have reduced resolution times by up to 40%.

Strong results—and bigger questions about work and data

The leadership overhaul comes after a period of solid financial performance. For the fiscal year ended in early 2025, Walmart reported revenue of $681 billion, up 5.1% from the prior year, and an 8.6% increase in operating income. In its most recent reported quarter, net profit rose by more than a third to $6.1 billion, while e-commerce sales grew 27% from a year earlier.

Walmart has been explicit about linking that performance to its technology strategy. In April 2025, McMillon described the company as “people-led, tech-powered” in its annual report, highlighting investments in automation, data and digital advertising. In November, Walmart transferred its stock exchange listing from the New York Stock Exchange to Nasdaq, the largest such move by market value. The company said the switch reflected its focus on technology, automation and AI and would better align it with a tech-heavy investor base.

The AI shift raises questions extending beyond Walmart’s balance sheet. With roughly 2.1 million employees worldwide and more than 10,000 stores and websites in 19 countries, changes in how the company deploys automation and algorithms can affect labor markets, local retailers and consumer behavior on a national scale.

Walmart has emphasized training and internal mobility as it deploys new systems, pointing to employee education benefits and AI skills programs. At the same time, industry analysts and worker advocates have noted that increased use of robotics and algorithmic scheduling can reshape jobs in warehouses and stores, even if overall headcounts remain high. Surveys by trade groups and research firms have found significant worker concern about job security and surveillance in AI-enabled workplaces, though acceptance tends to rise when employees see clear benefits and training.

For shoppers, AI-powered recommendations and “agentic” systems that anticipate needs could mean more convenience and lower costs if they help avoid waste and unnecessary trips. They also involve extensive data collection and profiling, and could steer customers toward particular brands or higher-margin items, a dynamic likely to attract the attention of antitrust and privacy regulators already scrutinizing the power of large digital platforms.

Furner has sought to balance the emphasis on technology with reassurance about Walmart’s broader mission. “As we enter a new retail era fueled by innovation and AI, our purpose and our people will continue to guide us,” he said when his appointment was announced.

How that balance plays out will shape not only Walmart’s next decade, but also the experience of millions of workers and shoppers who interact with the company every week. As McMillon steps back into an advisory role, the retailer that grew from a single Arkansas discount store into a global chain is betting its next phase of growth will be orchestrated as much by software and sensors as by store managers and buyers—under a chief executive who started on the sales floor and will now oversee its AI-driven reinvention.