Walmart CIO Set To Exit Company On February 24

By Christine Kern, contributing writer

Karenann Terrell has announced that she will be leaving her post.

Karenann Terrell, CIO of Walmart since 2012, has announced that she will be vacating her post as of February 24, 2017. President and CEO Doug McMillion has released no information regarding the move, and has named no replacement.

A company spokesperson told The Wall Street Journal that new technology leadership would be named soon. Walmart has engaged in a multitude of changes that have streamlined the company and helped it refocus on its IT and e-commerce initiatives over the past several years. In October, the company announced that it was doubling down on its ecommerce initiatives and slow its brick-and-mortar store openings. The brick-and-mortar slowdown means Wal-Mart will open just 35 new supercenters in fiscal 2018, compared to the 69 it opened last year, and will open just 20 new Neighborhood Market stores in the same period, way down from the 161 it opened last year. Walmart has also earmarked some $11 billion in capital spending to boost online sales.

“Her charter was clear – modernize our retail technology team and power our store and club businesses by enabling a seamless shopping experience at scale,” McMillon said of Terrell. “Under her leadership, we have made great strides,” including self-checkout technology, in-store wireless access, and collaboration with the e-commerce team on Walmart Pay.

A company spokesperson also emphasized that Terrill was head of corporate IT and technology for stores, not ecommerce, and that her departure was not related to the recent $3.3 billion acquisition of Jet.com.

Terrill’s departure is also just one of a number of ongoing personnel changes at the retailer. Sam’s Club CEO Rosalind Brewer is retiring effective February 1, and as many as 1,000 corporate jobs – largely from human resources – are on the chopping block in the near future as well, though no announcements have yet been made.