Michael Terry Duke (born December 7, 1949) is an American businessman. He served as the fourth
chief executive officer
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especial ...
of
Walmart
Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...
from 2009 to 2013.
[Kavilanz, Parija B]
Wal-Mart names new CEO: World's largest retailer says international chief Mike Duke will succeed Lee Scott, who is retiring.
CNNMoney.com, 2008-11-21
Duke was elected a member of the
National Academy of Engineering
The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Engineering is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of ...
(2010) for leadership and contributions to the design and implementation of innovative logistics and retail technologies.
Biography
Duke joined
Walmart
Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...
in 1995, serving as the executive in charge of the company's international operations. He became the CEO of Walmart in February 2009,
succeeding
Lee Scott.
Duke also serves on the
board of directors for the
Retail Industry Leaders Association and
Arvest Bank
Arvest Bank is a bank headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas, with branches in Arkansas, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Missouri. It is the oldest bank in Arkansas and is on the list of largest banks in the United States. It is almost entirely owned by ...
's community advisory board. He formerly held positions with a number of
retailer
Retail is the sale of goods and Service (economics), services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturing, manufacturers, dire ...
s, including
Federated Department Stores
Macy's, Inc. (originally Federated Department Stores, Inc.) is an American conglomerate holding company. Upon its establishment, Federated held ownership of the regional department store chains Abraham & Straus, Lazarus, Filene's, and Shillito ...
,
May Department Stores
The May Department Stores Company was an American department store holding company, formerly headquartered in downtown St. Louis, Missouri. It was founded in Leadville, Colorado, by David May in 1877, moving to St. Louis in 1905. After many c ...
, and
Venture Stores
Venture Stores, Inc. was a chain of retail stores aimed at the discount department-store market. John Geisse, formerly of Target Stores, and May Department Stores' executive vice president, Dave Babcock, founded the chain in 1968. Venture Store ...
. Duke earned a
BS in
Industrial Engineering
Industrial engineering is an engineering profession that is concerned with the optimization of complex processes, systems, or organizations by developing, improving and implementing integrated systems of people, money, knowledge, information a ...
from the
Georgia Institute of Technology in 1971, where he joined the
Delta Sigma Phi
Delta Sigma Phi (), commonly known as Delta Sig or D Sig, is a fraternity established in 1899 at The City College of New York (CCNY). It was the first fraternity to be founded on the basis of religious and ethnic acceptance. It is also one of th ...
fraternity, and in 2009 served as a member of the institution's
advisory board. As of 2012 he sat on the board of directors of the
Consumer Goods Forum The Consumer Goods Forum is a global organization of 400 consumer goods companies with the likes of Amazon and Kellogg being involved. It represents combined sales of 2.5 trillion Euros across 70 countries and 10 million employees.
Overview
The C ...
.
In 2010 he set goals to make Walmart energy efficient as possible and to open Walmart stores in countries like
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
. In 2012, his salary was $18.2 million.
Duke ranked No. 10 on ''
Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...
'' list of The World's Most Powerful People in 2013. That same year, Walmart ranked No. 15 on ''
Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...
'' list of Most Patriotic Brands—and the only retailer on the list—as voted by U.S. consumers. As of November 25, 2013, Duke's tenure as CEO ended with his sudden replacement decided by Walmart's Board. Press reports indicated that the total value of Duke's pension, deferred compensation and other retirement accounts totaled over $113 million.
Duke said in 2012 that his biggest regret as CEO was not investing more in e-commerce to better compete with Amazon. "I wish we had moved faster. We've proven ourselves to be successful in many areas, and I simply wonder why we didn't move more quickly. This is especially true for e-commerce," Duke said at the time. "Right now we're making tremendous progress, and the business is moving, but we should have moved faster to expand this area."
References
External links
Wal-Mart profileForbes profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Duke, Mike
1949 births
Directors of Walmart
Georgia Tech alumni
Living people
20th-century American businesspeople