Walmart Canada president gets global gig
Walmart’s Canadian president, Shelley Broader, is getting kicked upstairs with more global responsibilities.
Walmart announced Friday that Broader has been promoted to executive vice-president, president and CEO of Europe, the Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa and Canada.
Broader will oversee retail operations and business development in all of those markets.
Walmart said it planned to announce a new Canadian division president “at a later date.” Broader will continue to run the Canadian division until her replacement is named.
READ: Walmart's new world, an interview with Shelley Broader
Broader was to start her new job June 1 and will report to David Cheesewright, the man Broader replaced as president of Walmart Canada in September 2011. She will be based in Canada.
Cheesewright is head of Walmart International. He too at one time was responsible for Walmart business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, an area known as EMEA within the company.
"Shelley has been a strong leader since joining Walmart Canada and is the ideal person to leverage the tremendous potential the EMEA region holds for our company," Cheesewright said in a press release.
Broader started her retail career more than two decades ago with the New England grocery chain Hannaford Bros. She was president of the Michael’s craft chain before she joined Walmart.
Before becoming president of Walmart Canada, Broader spent nine months as chief merchandising officer.
“Shelley's leadership of our business in Canada during a time of increased competition underscores her knowledge of the retail environment which will serve her well in her new role,” Cheesewright said.
Under Broader, Walmart Canada bulked up its grocery business, adding some 35 full-grocery Supercentre stores per year, including the company's first Supercentres in the Maritimes and significant expansion into Quebec.
Walmart Canada's growth in grocery sales “makes me want to put food in every location that I can,” she told Canadian Grocer in an interview in December.
READ: Walmart Canada redesigns its website
Broader also added more private-label food items, launched a magazine, “Walmart Live Better” and started to push the company’s e-commerce business. A revamped Walmart website was launched last fall.
In her new role, Broader will oversee markets that include more than 285,000 employees and some 1,345 stores.
“Walmart has strong operations and excellent teams of associates in Canada, sub-Saharan Africa and the United Kingdom that are well-positioned to drive future growth," Broader said in a statement.
"I look forward to working with the teams to build on this success and to bring our mission of saving people money so they can live better to even more families across the region,” she added.