Walmart announced today it has hired former Google, Microsoft and Amazon veteran Suresh Kumar in the newly created position of Chief Technology Officer and Chief Development Officer — a role that will report directly to Walmart CEO Doug McMillon. The CTO position was previously held by Jeremy King, who departed the retailer in March to become Pinterest’s head of engineering.
Kumar, meanwhile, most recently worked at Google where he served for over a year as VP and General Manager of display, video, app ads, and analytics. Prior to that, he was Corporate Vice President of Cloud Infrastructure and Operations at Microsoft for three and a half years.
However, the experience that likely appeals the most to Walmart is Kumar’s 15 years spent in a variety of positions at Amazon, most recently as VP, Worldwide Retail Systems and Retail Services. He also previously led Amazon’s retail supply chain and inventory management systems.
Earlier in his career, Kumar was a research staff member at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center. He holds a PhD in Engineering from Princeton and a Bachelor of Technology from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras.
“The technology of today and tomorrow enables us to serve our customers and associates in ways that weren’t previously possible. We want to take full advantage of those opportunities,” said Walmart CEO Doug McMillon, in a statement about the new hire. “Suresh has a unique understanding of the intersection of technology and retail, including supply chain, and has deep experience in advertising, cloud and machine learning. And, he has a track record of working in partnership with business teams to drive results,” he added.
“Walmart is one of the great success stories in how a company evolves over time to serve the changing needs of its customers, and today, it is in the midst of a very exciting digital transformation,” Kumar noted. “With more than 11,000 stores, a high-growth eCommerce business and more than two million associates worldwide, the potential for technology to help people at scale is unparalleled, and I am excited to be part of this.”
Walmart’s U.S., Sam’s Club and International CTOs will report to Kumar, who will set Walmart’s technical strategy. As Global GDO, he will lead the team in building systems to digitally transform Walmart’s business operations,including the use of Walmart’s data to deliver a competitive advantage.
In addition, Clay Johnson and the Global Business Services team will also report into Kumar.
The hire comes at a time when Walmart and Amazon are battling head-to-head across a number of fronts, including e-commerce, omnichannel, advertising, logistics, brick-and-mortar operations, and even the cloud. Kumar’s over 25 years of technology experience will help here, as he has deep experience in retail, e-commerce, advertising, cloud, and machine learning, the retailer says.
Walmart has more recently been positioning itself as a tech company, not just a retailer. Former CTO King pointed to Walmart’s use of technology like VR headsets and machine-learning powered robots at this year’s SXSW, explaining that Walmart was building tech organization but struggles with its perception as being just warehouse-like store known for low prices.
Kumar will begin his new role on July 8.
