Walmart announces stock grants for store managers; promotes Ewing to international role

Walmart store managers will be eligible for annual stock grants of up to $20,000, Walmart U.S. CEO John Furner announced Monday (Jan. 29). The Bentonville-based company also announced that Jane Ewing will be tapped for a key role in its international business.

Furner’s news of the stock grant for store managers comes on the heels of higher base pay and bonus potential for store managers to a minimum of $128,000 and up to $200% of that as bonus potential. Walmart said store managers of supercenters will get an annual stock grant award of $20,000, while managers at Neighborhood Market locations will get $15,000 in annual stock grants. Managers of the smaller hometown format stores will receive $10,000 in stock grant awards.

“We see an investment in store managers as an investment in our culture, our core values and in the day-to-day experience of every associate in every store. Investing in you is an investment in our future,” noted Cedric Clark, executive vice president of store operations for Walmart U.S.

Marybeth Hays, a retired Walmart executive, applauded the added benefit pay.

“Wonderful and so well deserved,” she noted. “I have always thought that running a Supercenter is like running a small city.”

Furner said store managers oversee multimillion-dollar operations and hundreds of people and the job today is far more complex than when he managed stores.

“We ask our store managers to own their stores and now they will literally be owners,” Furner noted in his social media post.

EWING PROMOTION
Ewing, an exec in Walmart’s sustainability agenda for the past three years, was tapped by Kath McLay to take a senior leadership role in Walmart’s International business. McLay recently took over as CEO of Walmart International with the retirement of Judith McKenna.

Ewing will oversee operations, real estate, and supply chain initiatives across Walmart’s International markets. The announcement was made by Kathleen McLaughlin, chief sustainability officer at Walmart in an internal email on Monday.

“This is an exciting role, and she will continue to be an important partner is advancing sustainability at Walmart globally,” McLaughlin noted in the email.

Ewing is credited with instrumental leadership to the progress of Walmart’s Project Gigaton, packaging innovation, operational waste eliminations and regenerative projects in collaboration with suppliers and other partners, the memo states.

“Jane leaves big shoes to fill as we search for a new corporate sustainability leader” McLaughlin noted.