Leadership

Cheryl Ainoa serves as executive vice president and chief technology officer for Sam’s Club. In this role, Cheryl heads a team of skilled technologists that are focused on delivering seamless and advanced technology solutions that enhance the overall experience for Sam’s Club members and associates. 

Cheryl joined Walmart in 2020 and most recently served as executive vice president, New Business and Emerging Tech – a team that focused on focused on powering the future of Walmart by accelerating early-stage strategic businesses and revolutionizing retail experiences through emerging technology. In this position, Cheryl and her team launched Walmart Business and Walmart Luminate, while achieving strategic growth for Walmart Connect and Walmart’s Health & Wellness business. They also introduced multiple AR shopping experiences, expanded the use of Walmart's Conversational AI platform globally, and launched various social commerce and MarTech initiatives. Additionally, Cheryl led a cross-functional team that rapidly scaled GenAI implementation across Walmart, while moving with speed to develop GenAI tools, such as Walmart’s Generative AI Playground.

Prior to Walmart, Cheryl served as chief operating officer of D2L, a software-as-a-service organization that works with schools and businesses to help transform the way the world learns. There, she was responsible for product management, development, delivery and support functions for the company’s industry leading Brightspace cloud-based learning management system.

 
Cheryl also served as senior vice president of Product Development at Intuit, where she led Intuit’s transformation from CD-ROMs to a mobile-first, cloud-based SaaS company. Before joining Intuit, Cheryl led Product Development for Yahoo!’s award-winning and category-leading Media properties, including Yahoo! Finance, Yahoo! Sports, Yahoo! News. She also spent 15 years in technical leadership positions at companies including Broderbund Software, Genealogy.com, Healtheon/WebMD, Informix Software and Impac Medical Systems.

 
Cheryl is a recipient of the YMCA Tribute to Women and Industry (TWIN) Award, which recognizes women who have excelled in their fields and made significant contributions to industry in executive, managerial and professional roles. Cheryl was also a recipient of the 2013 Intuit CEO Leadership Award.

 
Cheryl holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Washington State University and a Master of Business Administration from Santa Clara University’s Leavey School of Business.