Chris Nicholas, incoming Sam’s Club CEO
Chris Nicholas began working in retail at the age of 14, pricing goods and working in back rooms. The stage will get much bigger on Sept. 11 when he steps into the top job at Sam’s Club.
He will leave behind his role as chief operating officer for Walmart U.S., a position he held since October 2021. Nicholas joined Walmart in 2018 and worked for the first three years as the chief financial officer for Walmart International. Then he worked in the U.S. business before Walmart U.S. CEO John Furner tapped him for an operational role as the No. 2 executive for U.S. stores.
“I fell in love with retail very early because I felt we could always make a difference in retail. I grew up in an environment where no one had much money,” Nicholas said a year ago in an episode of “The Huddle” with Furner. “I have worked in retail in nine different countries. I have run businesses, I have been the CFO for different businesses, whether that’s in Europe, in the U.S., or over in Australia, and there is something that’s really common about retail which is that the customers will tell you what they want.”
