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PRINCETON, N.J. — Retail industry veteran and former Walmart executive John Westling Sr., president of sales services at Market Performance Group (MPG), passed away on Monday. He was 60.
Westling joined MPG as president of sales services in April 2013 after running his own consulting firm serving consumer packaged goods (CPG) retailers and manufacturers for nearly two years.
Before that, Westling spent 23 years in a range of roles at Walmart, most recently as executive vice president of merchandising, replenishment and category management. In that post, he oversaw merchandising, planning, replenishment, pricing and internal category management. His Westling’s work with large CPG and food companies and innovation with categories and brands earned him a number of honors, including Mass Market Retailers awards for store-specific merchandising, the Sam M. Walton Hero Award and two GMM of the Year awards.
Prior to joining Walmart, Westling spent 14 years in the retail grocery arena.
At MPG, Westling served as client lead and strategic adviser on select client engagements. MPG cited his extensive experience in developing brands, launching new innovations, transforming categories, driving growth at retailers, optimizing merchandising plans and improving operational efficiency.
“John was an invaluable leader at MPG,” MPG managing partner Marc Greenberger said in a company memo on Westling’s passing. “He drew upon his unrivaled knowledge of Walmart and the mass retail business to build a highly successful sales services organization in northwest Arkansas comprised of the best people he knew. John also made an indelible impact at MPG as a senior retailer adviser for consulting engagements. His towering credibility and knack for ‘telling it like it is’ was consistently appreciated by our clients.”