BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Walmart has reportedly named Creighton Kiper its newest vice president of merchandising, beauty. The announcement comes weeks after Kiper’s predecessor, Musab Balbale, departed the company.

Creighton Kiper

Kiper previously held the role of merchandising vice president of wellness at Walmart, with responsibility for merchandising in stores and online for the U.S. market. He also oversaw growth efforts into the emerging digital wellness arena, where his team led an initiative to provide “Well Being for All’ through commerce, content, and connection. “Under Creighton’s leadership, Walmart has successfully launched the GNC brand in WMT stores and online, built exclusive brands like Spring Valley to over $1 billion in revenue (annually), and grown and incubated direct to consumer brands ranging from Goli, Roman, and Vital Proteins, to Women’s Best and Aloha among many others,” Kiper’s LinkedIn profile notes. “These efforts and future joint ventures are part of a very intentional strategy to grow Walmart’s participation in the Wellness ecosystem.”

Walmart is in the throes of modernizing its beauty assortment, too. Balbale introduced a slew of new indie brands in a bid for the Gen Z beauty shopper during his tenure, exemplified by its launch of Uoma by Sharon C., the mass market sister brand to Sharon Chuter’s Uoma Beauty. It also co-created a hair care line, called Next of Us, with Procter & Gamble.