Forty Under 40: Trent Addington

Trent Addington works to give Walmart’s customers a fast, safe and efficient payment experience. He also works to keep Walmart’s costs low, so the retailer can continue to provide its customers with affordable prices. Walmart’s cost to accept debit and credit cards is $2 billion annually.

Passionate about the lack of competition in consumer payments, Addington “spends a lot of time advocating for change because it’s an industry dominated by one participant that sets pricing.” He lobbies on Capitol Hill to create competition.

Addington served as co-chair of the U.S. Federal Reserve Secure Payments steering committee, which led to this summer’s launch of the real-time payment system FedNow.

A Decatur native, Addington graduated from the University of Arkansas with a finance degree in 2006. He worked for First Data as a Walmart team account manager before moving to Atlanta as director of strategic accounts, calling on Bank of America. In 2012, Bank of America hired him as vice president responsible for its Home Depot account. Then, he worked for Best Buy as director of payment acceptance before coming to Walmart as a payment services director in 2016, quickly moving to senior director.

Being a good listener and asking good questions to understand the underlying issue or problem has served Addington well throughout his career. In a position where he can “influence and have positive change for the customer experience,” he enjoys improving people’s lives.

Addington served on the payment standard-setting body EMVCo Board of Advisors and helped bring chip card technology to the United States. He’s chairman of the U.S. Payments Forum steering committee, tasked with ensuring seamless implementation of new technology in the payments industry.

Addington coaches his children’s sports teams and volunteers with Hope Cancer Resources.