Wal-Mart names Ga. Tech grad to be CEO

New York — Wal-Mart announced a surprise change in leadership Friday, naming a Georgia Tech grad as its new CEO.

Mike Duke, who joined Wal-Mart in 1995, will take the reins from Lee Scott, currently the company’s CEO, on Feb. 1.

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AP

Mike Duke

Duke landed his first job at Rich’s department store in Atlanta — and stayed in the department-store business for 23 years as an executive at department-store operators May Stores and Federated Stores Inc., now known as Macy’s Inc.

As Wal-Mart’s vice chairman of its international division, Duke, 58, has made some key moves, including pulling out of some countries and expanding in others, such as Brazil and India.

Before that, Duke had held various senior logistics, distribution and administration posts since joining the company in 1995.

That makes Duke a “capable” executive who knows the company “inside and out,” said Adrianne Shapira, an analyst with Goldman Sachs.

Duke became chief executive and president of the Wal-Mart Stores U.S. division in 2003 and switched over to head the international division two years later as Wal-Mart increased its focus on international growth.

Duke, who has two daughters and a son with his wife, Susan, graduated from Georgia Tech with a degree in industrial engineering in 1971. Duke also has served on the Morehouse College board of trustees since 2005.

Barrett H. Carson, vice president for development for Georgia Tech, said becoming Wal-Mart’s CEO places Duke as the highest-ranking Georgia Tech alum.

“Taking the top position there, I think, puts himself certainly first among peers at this juncture,” he said. “I have goosebumps.”

Carson said that Duke is a very humble and self-effacing guy, the kind who will look for your golf ball in the rough. Carson, who has known Duke since 1997, said Duke was very active on the Tech advisory board, and kept Tech football memorabilia in his Bentonville, Ark., office.

“This will all be very embarrassing for him. At the end of the day, he simply is a really good guy.”

In 2003, Duke helped inaugurate Tech’s Technology Square development in Midtown with Gov. Sonny Perdue and others. In his speech that day, Duke said Wal-Mart couldn’t handle its massive supply chain or millions of daily transactions without innovations led by schools such as Tech.

At a time when many retailers are suffering profit declines, Wal-Mart, which is based in Bentonville, posted a 7.5 percent increase in net earnings on the third-quarter profit of $97.6 billion.

“Wal-Mart rings profitability out of very small margins and passes it on to the customer,” Carson said. “And that’s what industrial engineers are trained to do. He’s literally practicing exactly in his field.”

In 2006, Duke was involved in major changes in the company’s international strategy, including exiting the German and South Korean markets, where the company was faltering before Duke took over.

At the time, Duke said it wasn’t possible to achieve the “size and results” the company was seeking in the two countries.

“Mike has had a pretty stellar career at the company,” said Morgan Keegan & Co. analyst John D. Lawrence.

“He has done a good job in assessing the situation in international, making some decisions over there. Those were tough decisions.”