Change at the top as Mark Ibbotson exits Walmart

Mark Ibbotson, Executive Vice President of Walmart’s Realty and Central Operations divisions, will depart the US retail giant at the beginning of February.

This closely follows Walmart’s new US CEO John Furner naming Dacona Smith as his second-in-command, a move which sidelined Ibbotson.

The Brit joined Asda in 2004 as a regional operations manager and then moved to the central retail team, where he held a variety of roles including Loss Prevention Director and Productivity Director, Central Retail Director, Retail Director and Chief Operations Officer.

In March 2015, Ibbotson moved to the role of Senior Vice President of Central Operations for Walmart US. Prior to joining Asda, he worked for Sainsbury’s in a number of operational roles both in the UK and internationally.

Ibbotson did a considerable amount of online grocery work for Walmart. Janey Whiteside, EVP and Chief Customer Officer, will now take on more of that responsibility. Dacona Smith will also cover some of Ibbotson's patch, including asset protection and realty.

Walmart will name new heads for realty and operations support at a later date. “Over the past five years, Mark has been an important part of the transformation of the US business, helping simplify work for associates and digitise our operations,” a company memo said.

“He helped launch Academies to invest in our associates and online grocery shopping to create a great experience for our customers – both of which have helped position us well for the future.”

“We have decided that a portion of the work that has lived in central operations belongs with the product team being created under Janey Whiteside. We are standing up this product team – to be led by Meng Chee, EVP and Chief Product Officer – to design great technology products and customer and associate experiences with the end user in mind,” the memo added.

“These central operations teams have made strong progress with store innovation, associate-facing technology and the rollout of online grocery pickup and delivery, and we want to see that work accelerate by seamlessly integrating our associate and customer experiences.”

Super Bowl 2020

For the first time ever, Walmart will be airing an ad during the Super Bowl, promoting its Pickup service.

“We’re excited to show tens of millions of viewers who tune into the Big Game how our Pickup service can reinvent their shopping experience and add much needed time back into their day. It’s truly out of this world convenient,” Whiteside says in an online post.