Tony Rogers, Walmart’s chief marketing officer, moving to Sam’s Club

Tony Rogers, chief marketing officer for Walmart U.S., is transitioning to a new position at Sam’s Club where he will oversee membership and customer experience. The announcement was made to employees earlier this week through an email memo stating Rogers will make the move later next month.

Rogers is credited with helping rebrand the retailer using the “Save Money, Live Better” tagline. He has served as CMO since 2016 and the departure of Stephen Quinn. Prior to that, Rogers served two years as CMO of Walmart China where he oversaw marketing and social media for brick and mortar and e-commerce businesses. He spent another eight years working his way up through Walmart’s marketing ranks after joining the company in 2005 from Frito-Lay’s division of PepsiCo, where he handled brand strategy.

“While it’s not easy to see Tony leave Walmart U.S. and U.S. eCommerce, we’re excited for him as he takes on his next challenge leading Sam’s Club’s end-to-end member strategy,” Walmart U.S. president and CEO Greg Foran and U.S. eCommerce CEO Marc Lore wrote in the memo. “As the first leader to take on responsibilities for both stores and e-commerce, he pioneered an omnichannel marketing function. He helped bring innovative offerings — like free two-day shipping and online grocery — to life.”

Rogers will report to Jamie Iannone, CEO of SamsClub.com and executive vice president of membership and technology. Iannone said the new role of chief member officer is an important step in helping the retailer focus more intensely on membership insights and offerings— key to the club models’s long-term success.

“We’re excited to bring together these functions into a single team led by Tony,” he added.

Rogers said the timing is right for the move as holiday promotions at Walmart are now in production and well underway. He said having previously worked for Sam’s Club CEO John Furner in China, he was excited when he got the call about the new position. Rogers said the move gives him the opportunity to work closely with a membership base. He also relishes the opportunity to grow Sam’s Club e-commerce base, saying he’s comfortable playing the underdog as Sam’s looks to grow share against Costco.

Walmart has not said who will backfill the chief marketing officer role upon Rogers’ move to Sam’s Club, but insiders believe there will be a new hire.