Incoming Walmart chief government John Furner began at the mega retailer as an hourly worker stocking cabinets. Now, the largest U.S. company by income is relying on him to information it by its subsequent chapter.
CEO Doug McMillon introduced his retirement in November after a decade as chief of the No. 1 company on the Fortune 500. His final day was Jan. 31. Taking his place is Furner, who begins his CEO tenure Sunday after beforehand serving as the president and CEO of Walmart’s U.S. operation.
Furner, 52, began his Walmart journey at a backyard middle in the company’s hometown of Bentonville, Ark., however will now tackle the process of main the company’s 2.1 million workers and operations at its practically 11,000 shops throughout 19 nations.
After learning advertising administration at the University of Arkansas, Furner rose by the ranks at Walmart from retailer supervisor to district supervisor and purchaser, then on the company facet as divisional normal supervisor, and VP of international sourcing. He even spent two years in Shenzhen with Walmart China working merchandising and advertising.
Before overseeing Walmart U.S., Furner was CEO of Sam’s Club.
“John understands every dimension of our business—from the sales floor to global strategy. He has proven he can deliver results while living our values,” Greg Penner, Walmart’s chairman of the board, mentioned in an announcement.
On his method out the door, McMillon additionally gave credit score to Furner, who he mentioned he has labored carefully with for 20 years.
“He loves this company and his fellow associates, he deeply understands our business so well, and he has the right characteristics to lead us into the future. He’s a merchant, an operator, an innovator and a builder,” McMillon mentioned Friday in a submit on LinkedIn.
Furner’s funding in workers
In half as a result of of his humble beginnings as a retailer affiliate, Furner has throughout his tenure helped oversee a large remodeling of how Walmart pays its retailer managers. In an effort to spice up morale and retention, Walmart provided its highest performing managers pay packages value between $420,000 and $620,000 per 12 months.
The staff’ base wage was raised to between $130,000 and $160,000—greater than double the median yearly wage of an American employee. The relaxation is made up of giant inventory grants and annual bonuses, which Furner mentioned was meant to “make managers feel like owners.”
The company additionally introduced again a bonus program for retailer workers. Some qualifying workers might probably earn as much as $1,000 per 12 months from the program primarily based on their years of service, in keeping with the company.
Even as AI threatens the jobs of staff throughout industries, Furner has mentioned its worker depend over the coming 5 years will stay regular even when staff are extra productive. The jobs that do disappear can be changed with new positions inside the company, he added.
“We’re extending people’s career and those jobs pay better. The attrition rates are really low,” Furner mentioned throughout the Brainstorm Tech convention in Park City, Utah in September.
Partly as a result of of these adjustments, the company claimed a top 10 spot on Fortune‘s Best Large Workplaces record in retail for 2024.
Why Walmart selected John Furner as CEO
Part of Furner’s administration philosophy might have been influenced in half by his household and early experiences. Working on the farm together with his grandfather as a toddler, Furner realized the worth of laborious work.
“I learned with him that the animals don’t take Sundays and Saturdays and Wednesdays off,” he mentioned, in keeping with Fox News. “They’re always up. You get up early in the morning. You go drive the fence line to make sure that a cow hadn’t pushed his way through.”
His grandfather’s hands-on method additionally utilized to fixing issues. When he wanted one thing, Furner’s grandfather, who he mentioned was a product of the Great Depression, most popular to piece collectively an answer by hand as an alternative of shopping for one thing.
“In a business, there’s so many unique situations that just land on you that there may not be a clear answer, but between your team, your resources, American ingenuity and creativity—There’s probably a way to solve it,” he mentioned.
Furner’s penchant for laborious work and inventive downside fixing got here in helpful throughout his most current high-profile roles as president and CEO of Sam’s Club after which Walmart U.S. During his stint as chief of Sam’s Club, Furner oversaw 11 consecutive quarters of optimistic development and took on competitor Costco partly by making the company leaner and shutting shops.
Then, when the company was hit with an unprecedented problem in the type of the COVID-19 pandemic, Furner helped the company beef up its provide chain and achievement facilities to fulfill the second.
As he advised Matthew Shay, president and CEO of the National Retail Federation in 2020, Walmart reshaped it enterprise, deprioritizing optical and auto-care facilities whereas investing in its grocery enterprise to fulfill demand from what he known as the “stock-up phase,” the place prospects rushed to construct up their provide of all the things from rest room paper to consumables.
Then, the company invested deeply in achievement facilities in addition to pick-up and supply companies to adapt to the “work from home” period and skyrocketing on-line purchases.
As a end result, internet gross sales grew in each 2020 and 2021, regardless of the pandemic disruption. In 2021 alone, Walmart’s internet gross sales for its U.S. enterprise grew by an eye-popping $29 billion, vastly outpacing the earlier 12 months’s gross sales development, whereas its ecommerce operations grew by 79%.
A model of this story was printed on Fortune.com on Nov. 14, 2025.
