Students in the sophomore lyceum course were visited by Brett Biggs, executive vice president and chief financial officer for Walmart International. Biggs has been with Walmart for 14 years and has held various positions there moving around from strategy, M&A, Sam’s Club and Walmart’s treasury operations and capital markets. He has a vast understanding of Walmart’s operations and finances, which he was able to share with the students.
Biggs attended Harding University and majored in accounting. He stressed the importance of an accounting background, suggesting that students take at least 12 hours of accounting, not merely the six required for their BHP degree. Knowing how to interpret the numbers and how to relate to people are a winning combination, he told them.
His first job after graduation was with Pricewaterhouse in Dallas as an auditor. He went on to pursue an MBA from Oklahoma State University, then took a job as an M&A analyst for Leggett & Platt, where the company completed about 100 deals over four years. He joined Walmart in 2000 working in their M&A division. He joked that he was known by some as “chief schmoozing officer” because he travelled all the time building a pipeline of relationships for joint ventures and acquisitions.
He showed a willingness to be thrown in the deep end, so the speak, and take calculated risks in his career and he was thus moved around by management and given new opportunities. “It is important to have the judgment to bring in the right people at the right time, be able to collaborate and have the humility to ask for help,” said Biggs.
One example he used was moving from finance to operations. Biggs served as senior vice president of operations for Sam’s Club, leading all facets of Sam’s Club operations in the southern part of the U.S., encompassing 230 clubs and 40,000 associates. He never would have thought of himself in operations, but at the urging of his CEO, he tried it and loved it, learning a great deal along the way. He relied on his team for help during this transition.
Being in operations meant that he had to handle many more personnel issues. When asked by a student about the most challenging situations he has encountered in his career, Biggs said the toughest decisions are around people. “It is most rewarding to watch your people do well, but most difficult to have to part ways with people who aren’t doing well,” he said. He talked about how much Walmart cares about their talent and how much time they invest in growing that talent and giving them opportunities to progress through the organization taking on roles with greater complexity and scale.
Biggs answered questions from students ranging from Walmart’s long-term strategy, partnerships in other countries and charitable endeavors. “There are so many opportunities to do good and help others when you are a company this size,” he said when discussing initiatives from sustainability, to jobs for veterans, to women’s economic empowerment. He also touched on Walmart’s big plans for E-Commerce and how they plan to compete with online giants like Amazon in the near future, saying to stay tuned for news in the future.
The students in the class enjoyed learning more about Walmart and Biggs’ roles at the company. Biggs described the culture at Walmart as “pay-it-forward,” saying that people will make time to help you and give you advice. We thank him for making time for our students and sharing with them his unique career path and advice!