Doug McMillon receives MMR Lifetime Achievement Award

When Doug McMillon steps down as president and chief executive officer of Wal­mart on January 31, 2026, he will close the book on one of the most consequential chapters in the company’s 63-year history. During his 12 years at the helm, McMillon didn’t simply steer the world’s largest retailer through disruption — he transformed Walmart from a traditional big-box powerhouse into a tech-driven, omnichannel leader while staying true to the company’s founding purpose: helping people save money and live better.

It’s that rare blend of innovation and integrity, scale and humanity, that makes McMillon a fitting recipient of our magazine’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

From the moment he took the reins in 2014, McMillon made it clear that change would be both urgent and relentless. “The future will bring a lot of change as the rapid growth of digital commerce enables us to serve customers in new and exciting ways,” he wrote in his first letter to shareholders as CEO. “With greater convergence of digital and physical retail, we’re investing in capabilities to provide customers even more choice and convenience.” He promised to analyze and review “everything Walmart is today” and to change whatever was necessary to serve customers better.

That mindset became the foundation of Walmart’s digital and omnichannel transformation. Under McMillon’s leadership, Walmart rapidly expanded its e-commerce capabilities to compete head-to-head with Amazon, highlighted by the company’s record-breaking $3.3 billion acquisition of Jet.com in 2016. The deal was a bold statement of intent, signaling Walmart’s aim to be a serious contender in the digital marketplace.

In 2020, McMillon introduced Walmart+, a subscription service designed to rival Amazon Prime, offering free shipping, fuel discounts and other perks that deepened customer loyalty and expanded Walmart’s reach. At the same time, he championed a “seamless shopping experience” that blurred the lines between online and in-store. Curbside pickup, in-store pickup towers and home delivery became core elements of the Walmart experience, redefining convenience for millions of shoppers.

McMillon also leaned into automation, robotics and generative AI, deploying new technologies to improve supply chain efficiency and enhance the customer experience. Drone delivery services were launched in selected markets, and robots were introduced to handle repetitive, physically demanding tasks. “The kind of outcome we want is where associates are getting paid more and are supervising robotics instead of walking miles and lifting heavy items,” McMillon said in February 2025 at Walmart’s Future of Commerce 2030 event in Bentonville, Ark.

That focus on innovation delivered tangible results. During McMillon’s tenure, Walmart’s stock rose by 300% to 400%, adding more than $560 billion to the company’s market capitalization. Annual revenue grew by nearly $200 billion, reaching approximately $681 billion. Strategically, McMillon reshaped Walmart’s global footprint, most notably securing a majority stake in India’s Flipkart in 2018 to tap into one of the world’s fastest-growing e-commerce markets while scaling back less profitable international units.

Yet for all the technology and financial milestones, McMillon has always emphasized that Walmart is, first and foremost, a people company.

He consistently raised starting wages for U.S. associates — first to $9 in 2015, then to $10 in 2016 — and invested billions in training and benefits. He launched education programs that pay for certificates or degrees, positioning Walmart as what he often calls a “ladder of opportunity.” Parental leave was expanded, and free basic short-term disability was introduced for full-time workers.

In his 2014 shareholder letter, McMillon reflected on his journey: “I first started working for Walmart 30 years ago when I was a teenager. I’ve fallen in love with our company, its people, our purpose and culture.” He pledged to uphold Walmart’s foundational beliefs — service to customers, respect for the individual, striving for excellence and acting with integrity — and to lead with the same customer-centric focus as founder Sam Walton.

That connection to Walmart’s roots has guided McMillon through periods of both growth and controversy. He made significant decisions on social policy, including ending the sale of handgun ammunition and military-style semiautomatic weapons. He also elevated sustainability to the center of Walmart’s strategy, launching Project Gigaton in 2017 to help suppliers avoid 1 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 — a goal the company reached years ahead of schedule. He set an ambitious vision for Walmart to become a regenerative company, targeting zero emissions across global operations by 2040.

At the 2025 Future of Commerce event, McMillon spoke candidly about the pace of change ahead. “The change in front of us feels like it’s greater than the change behind us,” he said, citing generative AI, robotics and data-driven decision making as major disruptors. Still, he underscored that some things never change. “The need that people have to save money and the desire they have to save money is every bit as strong as it ever was,” he noted. “We cannot, don’t want to, and won’t let ourselves walk away from opening price points and customers that depend on us for low prices. That’s foundational.”

He also reaffirmed his belief in servant leadership. “We are a digital company, but we’re a people-first company,” McMillon said. “We want to be every bit as good as anyone when it comes to applying the technologies that are relevant to our business while being kind servant leaders with the set of values this company was founded on.”

That balance — between high-tech ambition and human-centered leadership — defines McMillon’s legacy.

Greg Penner, chairman of Walmart Inc., captured it succinctly: “Over more than a decade as CEO, Doug led a comprehensive transformation by investing in our associates, advancing our digital and e-commerce capabilities, and modernizing our supply chain, resulting in sustained, robust financial performance. He leaves Walmart stronger, more innovative and better aligned with our purpose to help people save money and live better.”

As McMillon prepares to step aside, he does so having fulfilled the promise he made in 2014: to question everything, to embrace change and to lead with the customer at the center. For a leader who started as a teenage associate and rose to guide the world’s largest retailer through one of the most disruptive eras in retail history, that journey is nothing short of extraordinary.