How Walmart’s new CEO started out as a store associate and rose to the top of the retail giant

• John Furner began working for Walmart in 1993 as a part-time associate in the garden center.
• His roles with the company have spanned the globe, positioning him to take the helm as CEO next year.
• Here’s a look back at Furner’s life and career leading up to this moment.

Walmart, the world’s biggest retailer, is getting a new CEO, and the job is going to a man who has seen about every corner of the company.

On Friday, the company said that longtime CEO Doug McMillon would retire in January, with Walmart US CEO John Furner taking over on February 1.

John Furner began working for Walmart as an hourly store associate in 1993 at Store 100, located in the company’s hometown of Bentonville, Arkansas.

He later graduated with a degree in business from the University of Arkansas and held a wide range of assignments over the next decade.

Furner was named CEO of Sam’s Club in 2017 and subsequently became CEO of Walmart’s US division in 2019.

Here’s a look back at Furner’s life and career leading up to this moment.

Furner was born in Arkansas in 1974.

His father, Steve Furner, became an executive at Walmart in the 1980s. John Furner chose to study business at the University of Arkansas in 1992.

He joined Walmart as a garden center hourly associate in 1993.

Furner applied for a job at Store 100 to earn money for college. The Federal minimum wage at the time was $4.25, which would be worth about $9.68 in today’s dollars.

After graduating in 1996, he spent the next 10 years in various roles.

Some of his roles ranged from assistant store manager to district manager, regional general manager, and from buyer to divisional merchandising manager, to VP of global sourcing.

“John understands every dimension of our business — from the sales floor to global strategy,” Walmart chairman Greg Penner said in a statement.

In 2006, he joined Sam’s Club as a VP and divisional manager of seasonal and hardlines merchandise.

Furner spent most of the next 13 years with the Walmart-owned warehouse club chain. At the time, future Walmart CEO Doug McMillon was CEO of Sam’s.

Furner took a break from Sam’s Club in 2013 to be the chief merchandising officer and marketing officer for Walmart China.

That period marked a major turning point for the company, with dozens of store closures setting the stage for aggressive expansion plans.

In 2015, Furner returned to Sam’s Club as chief merchandising officer.

Furner played a key role in improving the club’s product assortment.

After two years, Furner was named CEO of Sam’s Club — a role previously held by Doug McMillon.

As Sam’s Club CEO, Furner oversaw 11 consecutive quarters of comparable sales growth, as well as robust membership expansion, the company said.

In 2019, Furner was appointed president and CEO of Walmart US, the company’s largest division.

As CEO of Walmart US, Furner was responsible for overseeing more than 4,600 locations and about 1 million employees. He has also played key roles in the overhaul of the company’s sprawling logistics and fulfillment network, as the brick-and-mortar brand reinvents itself as an e-commerce leader powered by artificial intelligence.

He also took home a hefty pay package worth nearly $16.3 million last year — a far cry from his annual earnings as a part time worker.

Now he’s set for the top job.

“I’ve worked with John for more than 20 years,” McMillon said in a statement released Friday. “He’s a merchant, an operator, an innovator, and a builder. I know that our future is bright with his leadership.”

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