John Furner to take reins at warehouse club unit

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Rosalind Brewer is set to retire from her position as president and chief executive officer of Sam’s Club, effective February 1.

Rosalind Brewer

Brewer, who has led Walmart’s warehouse club division since February 2012, will be replaced by John Furner, who currently serves as chief merchandising officer at Sam’s Club, with responsibility for overseeing all of merchandising for Sam’s Club including global sourcing, packaging and private brands. He was named to that post in October 2015.

Before that Furner served as chief merchandising and chief marketing officer of Walmart China, where he was responsible for merchandising, procurement, marketing, supply chain, financial services and mobile commerce for the hypermarket division. He is a Walmart veteran who joined the company as an hourly associate in 1993.

John Furner

Brewer joined Walmart in 2006 as a regional vice president, overseeing operations in Georgia. She later became division president of the Southeast, and then president of Walmart East.

Prior to joining Walmart, she spent 22 years with Kimberly-Clark Corp. for 22 years, starting as a scientist and eventually becoming president of the Global Nonwovens Sector in 2004.