Walmart has added two technology veterans to its leadership ranks as the retailer accelerates its use of artificial intelligence across its global businesses.
Amy Lokey has joined Walmart as senior vice president of design, while Sonia Wadhawan has been named vice president of partnerships, according to Daniel Danker, Walmart’s executive vice president of AI acceleration, product and design.
The appointments bring executives with extensive backgrounds at some of the technology industry’s largest companies to Walmart as it increasingly looks to AI to reshape experiences for customers, associates and business partners.
“One of the best parts of building a team is getting to welcome people whose work you admire,” Danker said in a LinkedIn post announcing the appointments. “I'm thrilled that Amy Lokey is joining Walmart as SVP of Design and Sonia Wadhawan as VP of Partnerships.”
Lokey will lead Walmart’s Global Design team, with responsibility for product experiences serving customers, partners and associates across Walmart U.S., Walmart International and Sam’s Club.
In describing her new role, Lokey said the design organization is developing AI-powered experiences across Walmart while also transforming how the company’s teams and associates use the technology to work more effectively.
“AI is transforming how people shop, find services and healthcare to live a better life, and work smarter with data and insights,” Lokey said on LinkedIn. She pointed in particular to dynamically generated interfaces capable of adapting to users and delivering increasingly personalized experiences.
Lokey joins Walmart from ServiceNow, where she served as executive vice president and chief experience officer. In that position, she led AI-native product and customer experiences and headed the company’s global design, research and technical documentation teams.
Her previous experience also includes serving as vice president and head of user experience for G Suite, now Google Workspace, overseeing UX for applications including Gmail, Drive, Docs and Calendar. She also served as vice president of user experience design at LinkedIn, working across its consumer and enterprise products.
Wadhawan, meanwhile, brings extensive experience in strategic technology and product partnerships. Her background spans emerging technologies including generative AI as well as commerce, advertising, search, platforms and devices.
She describes her focus as turning ambitious ideas into scalable products through strategic technology partnerships, with expertise in commercial negotiations, team building, cross-functional alignment and increasing consumer engagement and retention.
Wadhawan previously worked at Google, where she also championed product inclusion initiatives. She currently serves on the advisory board of Telamon, supporting the company's infrastructure work with autonomous vehicle, telecommunications and consumer brands.
Outside the technology industry, Wadhawan serves on the board of trustees at Presidio Knolls School in San Francisco and founded the West Coast chapter of Edu-GIRLS, an organization focused on helping girls living in poverty achieve greater economic independence through education and leadership development.
Danker said the experience of both executives will be important as Walmart seeks to capitalize on rapid advances in AI.
“As AI changes what's possible, the way we design products and collaborate across the industry has never been more important,” he said. “Amy and Sonia bring exactly the kind of experience, curiosity and leadership that will help us build what's next.”
The appointments come as Walmart is putting greater organizational emphasis behind AI and digital product development, using the technology not only to improve consumer-facing shopping experiences but also to change how associates work and how the company develops products and services.
For Lokey, that means applying AI across a particularly broad design portfolio encompassing Walmart’s U.S. and international operations as well as Sam’s Club. Her mandate also reflects Walmart’s effort to keep human-centered design at the center of increasingly automated and personalized experiences.
Wadhawan’s partnership role adds another dimension to that effort, focusing on the external relationships that can help Walmart bring emerging technologies and new products to scale.
Together, the hires underscore Walmart’s effort to combine AI technology, product design and strategic partnerships as it builds the next generation of experiences across one of the world’s largest retail enterprises.
