Target Corp. marketing executive William White is slated to join Walmart next month as U.S. chief marketing officer.
Walmart announced the move yesterday in a company memo from Janey Whiteside, chief customer officer. Plans call for White to start in the new role on May 11.
White (left) fills the vacancy left by Walmart U.S. and eCommerce CMO Barbara Messing, who departed the company last August. Messing came to Walmart U.S. as CMO in August 2018 from TripAdvisor.
Most recently, White served as senior vice president of marketing at Target, which he joined in 2013. Before that, he held various global and domestic leadership posts at The Coca-Cola Co. He started his career as a media planner for Starcom MediaVest in New York.
While at Target, White and his team devised and executed marketing strategies that energized sales and bolstered brand equity and customer loyalty, Whiteside noted.
“William is a customer-centric, innovative marketer and is a passionate leader who loves to build and nurture teams. He is an avid runner and an extremely proud father of three children. I am so excited to see him join the Walmart family and drive us forward,” Whiteside said in the memo. “We’ve been searching for a CMO for several months, and I cannot thank Rich Lehrfeld enough for his leadership during that time. He stepped up to the challenge to unite the team and make us all storytellers, and we are better for it.”
Lehrfeld, senior VP of brand, creative and media at Walmart U.S., will report to White, along with Ciara Anfield, VP of seasonal and cross-category marketing; Caroline Burd, senior director of marketing strategy and support; Brittney Duke, VP of general merchandise and services marketing; Karissa Price, VP of food, consumables and health and wellness marketing; and Saleel Sathe, VP of performance marketing.
