Walmart‘s Chief Technology Officer Jeremy King is stepping down. According to an internal memo obtained by CNBC, King will be starting “a new adventure soon,” although no specifics were given about where he is headed to next.
Fiona Tan, Walmart’s current senior vice president of customer technology, will be stepping up into an “elevated role” while the company looks for a replacement. King’s last day will be March 29.
“While Jeremy will be missed, he leaves us with an outstanding leadership team and organization well-positioned to advance Walmart’s strategic priorities seamlessly and with excellence. We wish him the very best in the next phase of his journey,” the memo stated.
For eight years, King has been working to boost Walmart’s technology presence to compete with eCommerce rivals, specifically Amazon.
“Jeremy joined Walmart during the inception of ‘a startup within the world’s largest company’ — now known as Walmart Labs, an important enabler for our business,” according to the memo. “Ever since then, he’s had a laser focus on building capabilities that empower our associates and better serve our customers.”
However, it hasn’t been easy for the world’s largest retailer to rebrand itself as an eCommerce company, even as more consumers are choosing to do their shopping online.
“People all have their own perceptions of Walmart,” said King about his role in leading Walmart Labs. “For years now, … I’ve wanted people to understand we are building a tech organization. I’ve got a machine learning team. We have some of the best apps in the world.”
The company added that, during King’s time at Walmart, important technology partnerships were created with Microsoft, Google, NVIDIA and others, which will carry its digital transformation into the future. In addition, King helped build and strengthen relationships with organizations like Grace Hopper, Girls Who Code and Path Forward.
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