User:JLD at Walmart/Doug McMillon revised

Early life and education
McMillon was born in Memphis, Tennessee, and grew up in Jonesboro, Arkansas. He was the oldest of three children born to Laura and Morris McMillon, a dentist who served in Vietnam. His parents moved the family to Bentonville, Arkansas, the home of Walmart headquarters, when McMillon was 16. A sports enthusiast, McMillon played point guard on the Bentonville high school basketball team.

McMillon graduated with a bachelor's degree from University of Arkansas in 1989 and received a master's of business administration (MBA) from University of Tulsa in 1991.

Career
McMillon has worked for Walmart throughout his career. He took on his first role with the company as a teenager in 1984, a summer job where McMillon unloaded trucks at a distribution center. He later became a buyer, then moved into management roles. He served as president and CEO of Sam's Club from 2005 to 2009 and president and CEO of Walmart International from 2009 to 2014.

Walmart announced on November 25, 2013, that McMillon would immediately join Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.'s board of directors, and would replace Mike Duke as Walmart CEO on February 1, 2014. McMillon is the company's fifth chief executive.

McMillon took over the company at a time of slowing growth and increased competition from rivals, such as Costco, Amazon.com, grocery store chains Kroger and Safeway, and discount chains of small stores like Family Dollar and Dollar General. Within his first two years as chief executive, McMillon raised wages for hourly workers in the U.S., boosted the company's commitment to e-commerce and revamped Walmart's executive team.

On March 31, 2015, McMillon issued a statement urging Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson to veto the state's "religious freedom" bill. McMillon said the bill "threatens to undermine the spirit of inclusion present throughout the state of Arkansas and does not reflect the values we proudly uphold". In June 2015, McMillon said the company would stop selling Confederate flag merchandise following the shooting of nine black churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina. Some shoppers and small store owners criticized Walmart for deciding to stop selling Confederate battle flag merchandise.

McMillon also altered Walmart's gun sales. He told CNNMoney in an interview that Walmart's selection of firearms should be geared towards hunters and sports shooters. In August 2015, the company ceased sales of military-style semiautomatic weapons due to declining demand. The National Shooting Sports Foundation said demand remained strong.

Forbes named McMillon to its World's Most Powerful People list in 2014 and 2015, where he ranked No.29 and No.32, respectively. ExecRank ranked McMillon No.4 on its 2015 list of top CEOs for large companies.