Leadership

Kathleen McLaughlin is the executive vice president and chief sustainability officer for Walmart Inc. She is responsible for programs that help Walmart create opportunity through jobs and sourcing, advance the sustainability of supply chains, and strengthen communities.

Through business initiatives and philanthropy, her teams work with Walmart associates, suppliers, nonprofit organizations and others to make significant and lasting improvements to economic, social and environmental systems. For example, Walmart has engaged more than 5,900 suppliers through Project Gigaton™ – an initiative created in 2017 to reduce or avoid one billion metric tons (a gigaton) of greenhouse gases from the global value chain by 2030 – achieved in 2024, six years early.

Kathleen serves as chair of the Walmart Foundation Board of Directors. For more than 10 years, she was president of the Walmart Foundation and has helped advance corporate philanthropy, building strategic philanthropic programs that complement business initiatives to achieve greater impact while using technology to facilitate local giving and community engagement.

Kathleen serves on the boards of the World Wildlife Fund and World Resources Institute and as an advisor to The Nature Conservancy’s Impact and Financial Markets team. She previously served on the board of the Council on Foundations.

In 2023, Kathleen was named to TIME magazine’s inaugural “TIME 100 Climate List,” recognizing the most influential climate leaders in business. In 2018, she was recognized as one of the "The World's 50 Greatest Leaders" by Fortune – a title given to leaders around the world for their work to transform the world and inspire others to do the same.

Kathleen is a frequent speaker about the role of business in society at forums such as those hosted by the New York Times, Fortune, the Wall Street Journal and the World Economic Forum.

Before joining Walmart in 2013, she spent more than 20 years with the global consulting firm McKinsey & Company.

Kathleen earned a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering from Boston University, as well as a Master of Arts in politics, philosophy and economics from Balliol College at Oxford University, where she was a Rhodes Scholar. She also has a diploma in theology from Oxford. She is married with three children and divides her time between Bentonville, Arkansas, and Toronto, Ontario.