Sam’s Club executive to exit after being told to relocate to Arkansas

Jaewon Kang / Bloomberg

The top technology executive at Sam’s Club, Walmart Inc.’s club chain, is leaving the company due to a policy requiring thousands of corporate employees to relocate to headquarters in Arkansas, people familiar with the matter said.

Cheryl Ainoa, chief technology officer of Sam’s Club, is declining to move to Bentonville, Arkansas, due to personal reasons, sources said. She’s departing the company after nearly five years.

Walmart has asked many of its employees from smaller offices, as well as remote workers around the U.S., to move to the company’s larger corporate offices. Most employees are going to Arkansas. The policy has moved many executive roles to relocate to Bentonville, according to a memo from Walmart’s chief technology officer and chief development officer, Suresh Kumar, which was viewed by Bloomberg News.

Ms. Ainoa will remain at the company until early February, according to the memo. Sanjay Radhakrishnan, who has helped lead technology strategies at Walmart, has been promoted to CTO of Sam’s Club.

“Having tech leadership closer to the business has already enhanced our partnerships with the Walmart US and International teams,” Mr. Kumar said in the memo.

Ms. Ainoa, who is based in California, joined Sam’s Club in 2020 from tech company D2L. Under her tenure, Sam’s Club has added new features such as exit technology, which lets shoppers leave stores without getting their receipts checked. Previously, she also helped build Walmart’s advertising and business-to-business divisions, among others.

Ms. Ainoa didn’t respond to a request for comment.