Walmart Names New U.S. Chief Customer Officer and Chief Marketing Officer
BENTONVILLE, AR - Walmart is adding a few rare drops of girl power into its executive pool this summer, naming women to both its U.S. Chief Customer Officer and Chief Marketing Officer roles. According to an internal memo shared by CEO Greg Foran and U.S. E-Commerce CEO Marc Lore, the retail giant has chosen Janey Whiteside and Barbara Messing to fill its newly created Chief Customer Officer role and its CMO role, respectively.
“I’m so excited to be joining Walmart and its awesome, talented team,” Whiteside posted on LinkedIn. “Retail is going through immense change and it’s an incredible time in the industry. If there is anything I have learned in my more than 20 years with American Express it’s that creating an end-to-end experience for customers is paramount. This new role is a step change for Walmart and it reflects the company’s passion for keeping the customer at the center of everything it does. As (Walmart U.S. CEO) Greg Foran and (E-Commerce CEO) Marc Lore put it, ‘we know when we put customers first, we win.’”
Whiteside will begin her work with Walmart on August 1st and be based in Hoboken, NJ, site of Walmart's Jet.com unit, according to a report by AdAge. Prior to having spent the past two decades at American Express, Whiteside was most recently Executive Vice President and General Manager of Global Premium Products and Benefits after holding many other positions of increasing responsibility in marketing, business development, and other departments.
Messing will join Whiteside at Walmart as CMO in mid-August, the source continued. In her current role as CMO of TripAdvisor, Messing helped lead her team to transition the company from a media-only site into a trip-booking e-commerce player. Soon to be based at Walmart's Bentonville, AR, headquarters, Messing will lead marketing for both Walmart stores and its e-commerce operations.
In the memo, Foran and Lore noted that Whiteside will “play a critical role looking after our brand and thinking through the customer journey—from acquiring new customers to their shopping experience and resolving any issues they may have.”
How will Whiteside and Messing help to shape Walmart going forward? AndNowUKnow will keep our eyes on these powerhouse women as they continue to make moves.
