UNITED STATES - These days, it almost feels like there isn’t an aspect of business Walmart hasn’t tackled. In an effort to streamline its workings, the retail giant has added real estate to the running list of responsibilities for its top U.S. executives and is reorganizing other executive positions as a result.
According to Bloomberg, Executive Vice President of U.S. Central Operations Mark Ibbotson will take on the company’s realty division. In his current role, Ibbotson is in charge of the company's fresh operations, as well as online grocery pickup and activity management, according to the company's website. An internal memo that Bloomberg News obtained offered insight into the move, which also includes more shakeups in executive command. Now, Head of Real Estate JP Suarez will go to the international side of Walmart—there, he will be Executive Vice President and Chief Administration Officer.
These changes are effective June 2nd and include a company alignment of the team overseeing its employee training academies with its human resources division, informally known as the People Department.
This is the most recent step the company has made to reduce the complexity of its operations, while also reducing its costs. To that point, the company cut jobs at its Bentonville, Arkansas, headquarters, closed 63 Sam’s Club warehouses, and consolidated its U.S. business down to four divisions, rather than its previously subdivided six divisions. In addition to these efforts, the company removed 3,500 store co-managers and added more roles that monitored fast-growing areas, such as online grocery shopping.
Judith McKenna, who is now running Walmart’s international business, is another example of the company’s quickly rising Walmart management team. Alongside McKenna, Ibbotson is one of several Britons who has climbed the rankings within the company’s management roles after taking on senior positions at Asda—which is currently being sold to its previous rival, Sainsbury's—according to the news source.
Ibbotson will take on the real estate division—which includes 3,100 employees and a $8 billion budget, according to the company’s website—as well as oversee innovation, employee communication, online grocery pickup, and asset protection divisions.
Suarez’s new role marks a return to international business, where he served as general counsel and Head of Business Development, previously. He initially joined the company in 2004, and he now replaces Scott Price, who left the company for a senior position at United Parcel Service in December.
How will Walmart’s executive shakeup and business-wide rearrangement address industry shifts and needs, and will this boost the company’s sales as a result to more streamlined direction? AndNowUKnow is looking for answers, and we’ll continue to bring the latest industry news.
