Walmart U.S. CMO to shift over to Sam’s

Tony Rogers, senior vice president and chief marketing officer at Walmart U.S., is moving over to Sam’s Club to take a newly created role.

The veteran Walmart executive is slated to join the retailer’s Sam’s subsidiary in late July as chief member officer, senior company executives told employees in memos yesterday.

“While it's not easy to see Tony leave Walmart U.S. and U.S. eCommerce, we’re excited for him as he takes on his next challenge leading Sam's Club's end-to-end member strategy,” Walmart U.S. president and CEO Greg Foran and U.S. eCommerce CEO Marc Lore said in the memo.

“In this position, he will be responsible for overseeing a broader portfolio that encompasses membership, marketing and member experience.”

Based in Bentonville, Ark., Rogers will report directly to Jamie Iannone, CEO of SamsClub.com and executive vice president of membership and technology, and serve as a member of Sam’s president and CEO John Furner’s leadership council.

“Having a chief member officer is an important step as we take an increasingly member-centric approach to the business,” Iannone said in a memo to Sam’s employees.

“As John has discussed, strength in our membership offering and base is the foundation of a successful warehouse model. We’re excited to bring together these functions into a single team led by Tony.”

Rogers has served as CMO of Walmart U.S. since 2016. He was promoted to that post after two years as CMO of Walmart China, where he oversaw traditional, digital, and social media efforts for the retailer’s stores in China as well as for Walmart-branded online-to-offline initiatives. 

Before moving to China, Rogers spent eight years in the Walmart U.S. marketing organization, holding such positions as senior vice president of marketing and vice president of advertising.

Rogers helped shape Walmart's "Save Money. Live Better." rebranding campaign, as well as for revamping the company's advertising approach and driving multicultural marketing. 

“As the first leader to take on responsibilities for both stores and e-commerce, he pioneered an omnichannel marketing function,” Foran and Lore stated.

“He helped bring innovative offerings — like free two-day shipping and online grocery — to life.”

Rogers joined Walmart in 2005 as senior director of brand strategy, coming to the Bentonville, Ark.-based company after six years in PepsiCo's Frito-Lay division, where he served in brand marketing roles for the Tostitos and Doritos brands and the Walmart customer team.

Update June 19, 2018 This story has been updated with additional information from the company.