Walmart Names New Global Ethics and Compliance Chief

Walmart has named longtime corporate compliance attorney and strategist Matt Miner as EVP and global chief ethics and compliance officer. 

Miner joins Walmart from the Washington, D.C., office of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, where he led the white-collar litigation and government enforcement practice. Previously, he was a deputy assistant attorney general at the U.S. Department of Justice, having been appointed to that role in the department's criminal division in 2018. 

While at the justice department, Miner led the development of guidance for evaluating corporate compliance programs and training for prosecutors on compliance program design, Walmart stated in a news release. He also managed the nationwide Medicare Fraud Strike Force program and the criminal division's Foreign Corrupt Practices Act unit. Earlier in his career, Miner was an assistant U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Alabama.

In his new role, Miner will report to Rachel Brand, Walmart's chief legal officer and EVP of global governance. "Matt’s expertise and experience with enhancing compliance programs make him the right leader to help take our program to the next level," Brand said in Walmart's news release. 

Miner joins Walmart as the company is embroiled in a legal battle with the justice department, which sued Walmart in December, alleging that Walmart pharmacists filled thousands of invalid opioid prescriptions and that the Bentonville, Ark.-based retailer failed to report suspicious prescription opioid orders. Walmart, which had preemptively sued the justice department and the Drug Enforcement Administration in October, quickly struck back at the suit, saying the department's investigation had been "tainted by historical ethics violations." 

The ongoing litigation so far hasn't been a big financial drag on Walmart: On Aug. 17, the company reported earnings for its second quarter of fiscal 2022, with adjusted net earnings per share of $1.78 beating consensus estimates of $1.57.