Our people make the difference, and Teresa Machuca and Linda Truong are great examples of that. When Linda first started at Store 2066 in Houston, TX, as a pharmacist, she met Teresa. Teresa was a cashier at the time and said she wanted to become a pharmacy technician to help her Hispanic community. Linda supported Teresa and pushed her to achieve her goal, and she did. Teresa then lost her grandmother due to COVID-19 and made it her mission to protect the people she loves – taking time to educate her bilingual and Spanish-speaking customers, friends and family about the importance of vaccinations. We’re grateful Teresa and Linda are part of our Walmart family and glad you get to hear from them in this new episode of The Huddle with John Furner.

It's officially Associates Week! Our associates all across the country and the world have played such an important role the last year and a half, so we are celebrating you. It's been a remarkable effort. Doug McMillon joined The Huddle with John Furner to talk about his most memorable Shareholders moments - including a couple with Mr. Sam, why he believes our ability to adapt will help us thrive in the next generation of retail, and how our associates keep making a difference every day by showing up and stepping up.

Donna Morris joined Walmart as our Chief People Officer in February 2020. During a pandemic and civil unrest, the well-being of our associates was and still is a top priority. Donna and her team jumped right in and got to work - helping establish our COVID-19 leave policy, partnering to change our hiring process and onboard more than 500,000 new associates, supporting our many diversity initiatives like the Racial Equity Center, and the list goes on. Listen to this new episode of The Huddle with John Furner to hear her experience becoming an American citizen and why she believes becoming more inclusive as a team will make us an even better company.

Casey Carl is our Chief Omni Strategy & Operations Officer, and he’s had a long career in retail. As he puts it, omnichannel is the “term du jour” right now - but what exactly does it mean? It’s about delivering the best customer experience, no matter how they want to shop with us. Listen to this new episode of The Huddle with John Furner to hear how we’re removing friction for our associates, providing end-to-end service for our customers, and creating a unified strategy.

Today is Earth Day, and we’re committed to doing our part to help reduce U.S. emissions by at least 50% by 2030. One of the ways we can make a difference is by partnering with businesses and companies that share the same goals. Listen to this new episode of The Huddle to hear John Furner talk with New Belgium Brewing CEO Steve Fechheimer about their first certified carbon neutral beer and how they’re working to reduce freight and overall emissions from beer production.

Sam Walton used to test new ideas at Walmart’s 8th store in Morrilton, Arkansas. Today, Store No. 8 is the name of our company’s incubation arm. Scott Eckert’s team is always looking around the corner to identify new tech trends - some might have uncertain outcomes, but big potential if the idea works. Srini Venkatesan’s team then tests, iterates, and develops a final product to be implemented in stores across the country. InHome delivery and Intelligent Retail Lab both started at Store No. 8! We’re constantly running startups inside Walmart to remove friction for our associates and continue innovating for our customers. Listen to this new episode of The Huddle with John Furner to hear how we’re honoring Walmart’s entrepreneurial history while encouraging our teams to perform and transform for the future with Store No. 8.

Today is an exciting day. We are really proud to share Walmart’s new commitment of an additional $350 billion in the future of U.S. manufacturing, which will support more than 750,000 new American jobs with products made, grown or assembled in the United States. One of the great companies we’ve partnered with is Techtronic Industries. John Furner recently visited Anderson, SC, and met with Steven Scheyer who serves as Global President for TTI. Steven joined John on The Huddle to talk about his history working with Walmart and the difference we’re making for his company and in his community.

Rachel Brand grew up in a small town in Iowa, graduated from Harvard Law School, began an amazing career as an attorney, was appointed to the Department of Justice - and now she’s our EVP of Global Governance, Chief Legal Officer, and Corporate Secretary. Wow! Her teams oversee everything from food safety and healthcare compliance to global security, aviation, and our Emergency Operations Center. Working at Walmart wasn’t something she planned to do, but her advice is to always be open to new opportunities. She saw how passionate we are about doing good for people in the world and wanted to be a part of it. Hear from her in this new episode of The Huddle with John Furner.

Walmart will play a critical role in giving people access to COVID-19 vaccines. Dr. Cheryl Pegus is our EVP of Health and Wellness, and she’s also a cardiologist who’s very passionate about immunizations. When it’s her turn to get the vaccine, she’s going to get it - and John Furner said he’ll do the same when it’s his turn. Dr. Cheryl joined John on The Huddle to talk about the science behind these vaccines, their effectiveness, the quick work we’re doing to be prepared to administer these vaccines, and why she’s encouraging everyone to get vaccinated.

When Bassel Aboutaha moved to America 17 years ago, he interviewed with Walmart and landed a job that ended up changing his life. Today he’s the Store Manager at 3296 in Houston, TX, leading a team that earned 3,000 five-star ratings from customers over a three-month period last year. Bassel’s associates represent the diverse community they serve, where 30 different languages are spoken. He says they can “move mountains.” Bassel is proof that if you look for opportunity and set your mind to it, you can accomplish anything. We know you’ll love hearing his inspiring story in this new episode of The Huddle with John Furner.