The Huddle with John Furner

For the first time in a couple years, we were able to hold our Walmart U.S. Year Beginning Meeting in person! It’s so energizing to be in Houston, connecting with the entire team from across the country. We're spending time this week talking about resetting our expectations for FY23. We’ve all been through so much, and while things won’t go back to the way they were - we're excited to start having...

Today we released our Q4 Earnings results, and we achieved the biggest quarter our business has ever had! Our eCommerce business has grown more than 70% compared to two years ago, and we’ve moved quickly to convert our stores into true hybrid locations – used for both in-person shopping AND online fulfillment. John Furner talked more about this with Tom Ward, our EVP and Chief eCommerce Officer, i...

There is so much to reflect on and be thankful for this year. A really special moment for John Furner was recording this Huddle episode with Marc Brock, who recently celebrated 14 years with the company and was promoted to Store Manager of 1560 in Las Vegas, NV! The first thing Marc did was appreciate his team and call his mother, Dorothy. It was such a great reminder of what really matters. All o...

Veterans Day is a really important day for our country, and it’s a special day at Walmart. Our founder, Sam Walton, was an Army veteran - and so many of our associates have served. Since 2013, we’ve hired more than 400,000 veterans and military spouses to join our team, like Rhonda Jeter and Glenn Garay. Rhonda served in the Air Force for 10 years, is a loyal Walmart associate and was recently pro...

We're grateful to have passionate people on our team like Dr. John Wigneswaran. Wig, as he likes to be called, is our Chief Medical Officer and joined Walmart after years in the medical field - he started in radiology, specialized in nephrology, and worked in the pharmaceutical industry, medical devices, dialysis, and most recently the pharmacy space. Wig shared firsthand the impact our pharmacy a...

We’ve officially rolled out our new Walmart app and website to 100% of customers! This means everyone is now able to see and purchase all of our items and services in one place - no more toggling between two separate apps. It’s a significant milestone of “Project Glass.” We named it after our late former CEO David Glass, who brought grocery and general merchandise together into the Supercenter. Bu...

This weekend will mark 20 years since the attacks of September 11th. John Furner was a Store Manager in Jacksonville, NC, and distinctly remembers sharing the news with his team - several of which had family members and loved ones serving in the military. In that same moment, Dan Bartlett was with President George W. Bush. Dan is our EVP of Corporate Affairs and came to Walmart after a career in g...

We shared our Q2 business results earlier this week, and what a quarter! Walmart U.S. saw 5.2% comp sales growth, and our CFO Chris Nicholas joined The Huddle with John Furner to talk about the momentum we’re seeing. Chris’ first retail job was in England at 14 years old pricing products, zoning shelves and working in the backroom. He’s since worked retail in nine different countries and knows no...

When John Furner first talked with Mayor Frank Scott, Jr., a few months ago, he shared a quote that really made an impact on him. “Never let nostalgia become the enemy of vision.” Change is constant - and it’s something we’ve all felt in many ways over the last year and a half. In order to continue innovating and moving forward, we have to be ready and willing to unite, grow and transform. Mayor S...

Jenny Dalquist’s grandfather came back to the United States from WWII with a background in metal working and chemistry, and her grandmother couldn’t find a lot of the products she used to cook her favorite Scandinavian dishes. Together they opened a family business in the Minneapolis area back in 1946 called Nordic Ware. After responding to Mr. Sam’s call for American manufacturers, Nordic Ware’s...

Our people make the difference, and Teresa Machuca and Linda Truong are great examples of that. When Linda first started at Store 2066 in Houston, TX, as a pharmacist, she met Teresa. Teresa was a cashier at the time and said she wanted to become a pharmacy technician to help her Hispanic community. Linda supported Teresa and pushed her to achieve her goal, and she did. Teresa then lost her grandm...

It's officially Associates Week! Our associates all across the country and the world have played such an important role the last year and a half, so we are celebrating you. It's been a remarkable effort. Doug McMillon joined The Huddle with John Furner to talk about his most memorable Shareholders moments - including a couple with Mr. Sam, why he believes our ability to adapt will help us thrive i...

Donna Morris joined Walmart as our Chief People Officer in February 2020. During a pandemic and civil unrest, the well-being of our associates was and still is a top priority. Donna and her team jumped right in and got to work - helping establish our COVID-19 leave policy, partnering to change our hiring process and onboard more than 500,000 new associates, supporting our many diversity initiative...

Casey Carl is our Chief Omni Strategy & Operations Officer, and he’s had a long career in retail. As he puts it, omnichannel is the “term du jour” right now - but what exactly does it mean? It’s about delivering the best customer experience, no matter how they want to shop with us. Listen to this new episode of The Huddle with John Furner to hear how we’re removing friction for our associates, pro...

Today is Earth Day, and we’re committed to doing our part to help reduce U.S. emissions by at least 50% by 2030. One of the ways we can make a difference is by partnering with businesses and companies that share the same goals. Listen to this new episode of The Huddle to hear John Furner talk with New Belgium Brewing CEO Steve Fechheimer about their first certified carbon neutral beer and how they...

Sam Walton used to test new ideas at Walmart’s 8th store in Morrilton, Arkansas. Today, Store No. 8 is the name of our company’s incubation arm. Scott Eckert’s team is always looking around the corner to identify new tech trends - some might have uncertain outcomes, but big potential if the idea works. Srini Venkatesan’s team then tests, iterates, and develops a final product to be implemented in...

Today is an exciting day. We are really proud to share Walmart’s new commitment of an additional $350 billion in the future of U.S. manufacturing, which will support more than 750,000 new American jobs with products made, grown or assembled in the United States. One of the great companies we’ve partnered with is Techtronic Industries. John Furner recently visited Anderson, SC, and met with Steven...

Rachel Brand grew up in a small town in Iowa, graduated from Harvard Law School, began an amazing career as an attorney, was appointed to the Department of Justice - and now she’s our EVP of Global Governance, Chief Legal Officer, and Corporate Secretary. Wow! Her teams oversee everything from food safety and healthcare compliance to global security, aviation, and our Emergency Operations Center....

Walmart will play a critical role in giving people access to COVID-19 vaccines. Dr. Cheryl Pegus is our EVP of Health and Wellness, and she’s also a cardiologist who’s very passionate about immunizations. When it’s her turn to get the vaccine, she’s going to get it - and John Furner said he’ll do the same when it’s his turn. Dr. Cheryl joined John on The Huddle to talk about the science behind the...

When Bassel Aboutaha moved to America 17 years ago, he interviewed with Walmart and landed a job that ended up changing his life. Today he’s the Store Manager at 3296 in Houston, TX, leading a team that earned 3,000 five-star ratings from customers over a three-month period last year. Bassel’s associates represent the diverse community they serve, where 30 different languages are spoken. He says t...

Trust is something we take very seriously at Walmart. We want our associates, customers, and the communities we serve to trust us. Nuala O’Connor is our SVP and Chief Counsel of Digital Citizenship. Her team makes sure we’re using data ethically and innovating responsibly to ultimately do the right thing for our customers. Listen to this new episode of The Huddle with John Furner to learn about Nu...

John Furner recently wrapped up his first year as Walmart U.S. CEO, so we decided to switch it up a bit for this new episode of The Huddle. Hear John reflect on everything our associates have accomplished, share his thinking behind some of the big decisions we’ve had to make as a company, and explain why we need to keep innovating to better serve our customers in the coming year.

“We are a single humanity, and we belong to each other. Our lives are inextricably linked.” Kelvin Buncum's perspective on leadership is to always treat others with dignity, respect and kindness. He’s an engineer, became an entrepreneur, and now leads our Neighborhood Market teams. He’s seen the true character of our associates firsthand during tough times. They’ve acted with courage and commitmen...

Laura Phillips is a lifelong retailer and long-term Walmart associate. She leads our Global Sourcing and U.S. Manufacturing teams and played a huge role in our virtual Open Call event this year. Entrepreneurs and small businesses from 49 states pitched products manufactured in the U.S. to our merchants – and 4,800 were invited to marketplace. These suppliers have come up with innovative new items...

We wouldn’t be able to do what we do every day without our truck drivers. They keep our stores, Fulfillment Centers and Distribution Centers in stock, and have a pulse on the whole business. Sam Walton used to go and sit with drivers early in the morning for a couple of hours to listen and learn about what’s really going on, because they see it all. Steve Harper has a great story of how he became...