Exclusive: Multiple Executive Changes at Walmart China After Regulators' Interview with Sam's Club
Text | Peng Qian, Ren Cairu
Editor | Qiao Qian
Sam's Club, which is in the whirlpool of regulation and public opinion, has welcomed a new personnel adjustment.
36Kr has learned that Zhang Qing, the CMO (Chief Merchandising Officer) of Sam's Club China, has submitted her resignation recently. In response, Walmart China said: "We sincerely thank her for her outstanding contributions to Sam's business during her tenure and sincerely wish her all the best in the future. Currently, we are actively searching for a successor globally. During the transition period, Neil Maffey will serve as the acting Chief Merchandising Officer of Sam's Club. Neil served as the Chief Merchandising Officer of Sam's Club from 2013 to 2017 and has been a full - time consultant for the company ever since."
In addition, according to exclusive information obtained by 36Kr, the personnel changes at Walmart China this time also include:
Tony Paladinetti, the current Vice President of Strategy at Walmart International, will join Walmart China as the Vice President of Strategy for Walmart China and report directly to Zhu Xiaojing. The internal email said that Tony will officially join the Chinese team in August 2026 after completing the work visa process and will relocate to Shenzhen with his wife Meg and their children. Yang Zhian, the current Vice President of Strategy for Walmart China, will report directly to Tony.
During the transition period, Neil Maffey, the former Chief Merchandising Officer of Sam's Club and the current full - time consultant, will serve as the acting Chief Merchandising Officer of Sam's Club and report directly to Liu Peng, the President of Sam's Club format, until the new person in charge takes office.
Zhu Jun, the President of the Walmart store format, will expand his responsibilities to take charge of the real estate department of Walmart China. Zhang Jinyuan, the current Senior Vice President of the real estate department of Walmart China, will report directly to Zhu Jun.
On Monday this week, the State Administration for Market Regulation issued a statement saying that in response to the frequent food safety issues at Sam's offline stores and online shops discovered by supervision and exposed by the media over a period of time, it recently interviewed the person in charge of Walmart (China) Investment Co., Ltd. (i.e., the headquarters of Sam's Club).
Zhang Qing joined Sam's Club in 2017, initially as a vice - president. Since 2018, she has been promoted to senior vice - president and also serves as the Chief Merchandise Officer, fully responsible for Sam's commodity strategy and procurement management in China. She has worked at Procter & Gamble, McKinsey and other companies, holding positions such as project manager, project director, and partner, and has also served as the general manager of the Greater China and Asia - Pacific regions at Whirlpool and Polaris Industries, accumulating rich experience in multinational consumer goods management.
Sam's Club is the core engine of Sam's high - growth in China in recent years, and the popularity of Sam's Club is inseparable from its product selection/quality control ability. From this perspective, Zhang Qing is undoubtedly one of the key figures in Sam's China. In an interview with 36Kr Future Consumption in 2021, Zhang Qing said that setting a membership threshold requires carefully selecting SKUs. One cannot think about covering more people, categories, or models, but can only focus on a vertical field and spend a lot of effort to find "hero products" with high repurchase rates. To continuously offer products that make customers want to apply for and renew memberships, it is necessary to spend a great deal of effort to create differentiated products. The same logic applies to the private - label brands launched by Sam's Club.
However, the frequent product - selection controversies in the past two years show that Sam's is gradually deviating from the commodity methodology once advocated by Zhang Qing.
In July 2025, Sam's Club experienced an public - opinion crisis for the first time due to product - selection changes. The incident originated from Sam's removing high - repurchase - rate products such as sun cakes, rice puddings, and low - sugar egg yolk pastries, while introducing "common products" like low - sugar Orbitz cakes and Liuliumei that can be bought in most supermarkets, which caused dissatisfaction among members. Some members left messages on Sam's China APP and social media, questioning the "decline in product - selection quality" and "weakening of differentiation ability". Since then, public opinion about the change in Sam's products has occurred from time to time. When the low - sugar Orbitz cakes were removed from Sam's shelves and sold at a low price on the shelves of the discount retailer Haote Mai, many members even said that this move confirmed the decline in Sam's product - selection ability.
A pack of Orbitz cakes and a bag of Liuliumei have angered Sam's members, which reflects the great growth pressure that Sam's China is facing in the highly competitive supermarket market.
A retail industry insider once told 36Kr: "There is a '100 - billion curse' for retailers. Once they exceed a scale of 100 billion, they are likely to lose their shape. Because the organizational ability may not keep up with market demand, and the financial - related KPIs will surely become heavier and heavier."
Sam's is at this critical juncture. Wen Ande, the former president of Sam's China, left the company at the beginning of last year. Since then, Sam's has also undergone a series of senior - management adjustments, including introducing Liu Peng from Alibaba, who has global supply - chain resources, as the CEO of the membership format, and carrying out reforms such as regional division for better expansion.
Sam's is still expanding its stores at a fast pace. In the Chinese market, Sam's opened 5 new stores each in 2020 and 2021, 6 in 2022, 5 in 2023, 6 in 2024, and 10 in 2025 - 2025 was called the year with the highest number of annual store openings since Sam's entered China by many media, and the total number of stores across the country reached 63 by the end of the year.
However, the growth momentum of Sam's performance is slowing down. "Business Observer" reported that Sam's China's sales revenue reached 45 billion yuan in Q1 this year. Q1 is the peak season for supermarkets (the Chinese New Year goods market). Even if Sam's China's annual sales revenue can reach 180 billion yuan according to an ideal calculation, it is slightly lower compared with the nearly 40% year - on - year growth last year.
The following is the internal email issued by Zhu Xiaojing, the President and CEO of Walmart China:
Walmart China is at a critical stage of development. Both the Sam's and Walmart formats are showing strong growth momentum, and we have greater visions for the future. To accelerate the company's development, we need to continuously upgrade our organizational ability and cultivate and build an outstanding management team with both a global perspective and insights into the Chinese market. This is the key advantage for Walmart's long - term success.
Here, I would like to announce the following personnel changes in the company's management team:
Tony Paladinetti, the current Vice President of Strategy at Walmart International, will join Walmart China as the Vice President of Strategy for Walmart China and report directly to me.
Tony joined Walmart in 2017 as the Vice President of Strategy at the international department. He has been deeply involved in the formulation of business strategies, the reshaping of business structures, market insights, and innovation projects in international markets with a scale of over 100 billion US dollars in more than 20 countries. Before joining Walmart, Tony worked in Asia for six years at the strategic department of the South Korean Samsung Group, responsible for the innovation of the group's business model and the formulation of customer - centered corporate growth strategies.
Tony will officially join the Chinese team in August 2026 after completing the work visa process and will relocate to Shenzhen with his wife Meg and their children. Yang Zhian, the current Vice President of Strategy for Walmart China, will report directly to Tony.
Zhang Qing, the current Chief Merchandising Officer of Sam's Club, has submitted her resignation to the company for personal reasons. Zhang Qing joined Walmart China in 2018. As a respected commodity expert and a tenacious team leader, she has shown a high degree of professionalism and excellent innovation ability. Under her leadership, Sam's procurement team has continuously created differentiated and high - quality products for members, laying a solid foundation for the long - term development of Sam's business. We sincerely thank Zhang Qing for her outstanding contributions to Walmart China and wish her all the best in the future.
Zhang Qing will leave her position at the end of June 2026. We are actively searching for a successor globally. During this transition period, Neil Maffey, the former Chief Merchandising Officer of Sam's Club and the current full - time consultant, will serve as the acting Chief Merchandising Officer of Sam's Club and report directly to Liu Peng, the President of Sam's Club format, until the new person in charge takes office. Sam's colleagues are no strangers to Neil. He served as the Chief Merchandising Officer of Sam's Club from 2013 to 2017, leading the transformation of Sam's category structure and the construction of the ability to develop differentiated products, and promoting the rapid development of Sam's business in China. He has been a full - time consultant for the company since leaving his post. We believe that under his leadership, Sam's procurement team can continue to delve deeply and create more differentiated and high - quality products for members.
Currently, both the Sam's and Walmart formats have entered a stage of rapid development. We will enter more cities and open more Sam's Club stores, cloud warehouses, Walmart stores, and community stores to serve more members and customers. To accelerate the expansion pace, we will further strengthen the collaboration between the real - estate team and the business department to promote the implementation of strategies with a faster response speed. From now on, Zhu Jun, the President of the Walmart store format, will expand his responsibilities to take charge of the real - estate department of Walmart China. Zhang Jinyuan, the current Senior Vice President of the real - estate department of Walmart China, will report directly to Zhu Jun.
Please join me in welcoming Tony's joining, thanking Zhang Qing for her contributions and Neil for his efforts, and congratulating Zhu Jun on expanding his responsibilities. Let's work together to build Walmart into "China's most trusted omni - channel retailer".