Walmart Adds Two Global Governance Leaders To Support Financial Services

To help advise its financial services business as one global team, Walmart has added two new global governance leaders. Emma Waddell will join the company as vice president of financial services compliance, while Joe Rodriguez will serve as lead counsel of financial services, per news from the retailer.

“As Walmart transforms through innovation and investment to save customers time and money, we are continually adapting our organization to ensure we have the right talent and structure in place,” said Rachel Brand, executive vice president of global governance, chief legal officer and corporate secretary, per the company. “I am confident that Emma and Joe’s extensive backgrounds and expertise in financial services will allow us to best support the business in this area.”

Waddell will provide support and guidance to financial services compliance leaders across all of the company’s operating markets, including Walmart U.S., eCommerce and the compliance teams in its international markets. Waddell comes to Walmart from SunTrust Bank, where she most recently served as executive vice president and chief compliance officer. In that role, she partnered with teams across the enterprise to assess and mitigate risk.

Before arriving at SunTrust, Waddell worked at JPMorgan Chase for over 12 years, as well as in several consulting positions. She earned her bachelor’s of arts in economics from Rutgers University and her master’s in business administration from the University of South Carolina. Waddell will report to Chris Cyrenne, senior vice president of global regulatory compliance, and will begin her new role on Sept. 16.

Rodriguez will provide legal advice and counsel to the company’s financial services teams. The executive comes to the retailer from Capital One, where he most recently served as vice president of compliance. In that role, he combined leadership, regulatory expertise and relationship management to enable a dynamic, technology-focused consumer finance business.

Before arriving at Capital One, Rodriguez served as a partner at Davis Wright Tremaine, LLP; senior counsel at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau; and as a trial attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice. Rodriguez earned his bachelor’s of science in accounting from The College of New Jersey and earned his Juris doctor from Harvard Law School, where he was editor of the Harvard Latino Law Review. Rodriguez is currently reporting to Karen Roberts until the new vice president of regulatory is appointed.