Wayne McKnight to leave Wal-Mart in early 2008 to return to Canada
Wayne McKnight to leave Wal-Mart in early 2008 to return to Canada
Wayne McKnight, Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s vice president of global procurement-food, has decided to leave his position and return to his roots in Canada in early 2008.
Mr. McKnight, a 32-year veteran of the produce industry, told The Produce News Dec. 4 that he "discussed [his] changing plans with the company back in early October and they asked if I would stay on until the end of their fiscal year, which this year would be February 1. So I will stay with the company until then. I am going to move back to the greater Toronto area in February and March. My family is there and my kids are in school there."
Mr. McKnight came to Wal-Mart after seven-and-a-half years at Sobeys Inc., where he served as vice president of produce and floral in its national procurement group in Ontario. Before Sobeys, he served as director of perishables at Co-Op Atlantic in the Canadian Maritimes and moved to Ontario to work for the Oshawa Group, which was purchased by Sobeys after six months.
"I was brought in to start a new division for Wal-Mart, which was their food global procurement operations. So I was employee number one in that area," Mr. McKnight said. "I came to develop a food model and business plan that would position Wal-Mart globally to facilitate the import and export of food and beverage. I thought that this would be a three- to five-year assignment, and I'm almost four years at it. We've fulfilled that mandate, and now it's just a matter of the company continuing to invest in the model we've established and it's going very well."
Among Mr. McKnight's successes at Wal-Mart was "being able to look at and understand the company, what it is and what it could be, and putting together a business plan model globally that meets the needs of all Wal-Mart stakeholders," he said. "We wanted to just break down all the silos that are in a very large organization and come together with one organization that crosses and really touches just about every business unit within this company. To put together that type of compelling case and have senior executives of the company in just about every country in the world, particularly in the U.S., sign off on that has been a great experience."
Though his division works with numerous support groups and has thousands of employees that are all supporting food imports and exports, Mr. McKnight said that "no matter how big your business is, it is really about the quality of your people. When I look at the people who have joined [global procurement] food over the last three-and-a-half years, not only in the U.S., but in South Africa, southern Europe, Mexico and southern South America, we've gone and attracted just incredible talent - the best in each one of those countries. A big company like Wal-Mart has great opportunities because of its size, growth and diversity, but nothing happens unless you put good people in front of it, and that's exactly what our first goal was: to attract, retain and inspire a world-class group of people that represent the company very, very well."
Though he declined to elaborate about his future plans, Mr. McKnight said that he would be "staying in the food business for sure, and part of that will obviously be touching produce because I am pretty passionate about that side of the business and have been exposed to it for a long time."
Mr. McKnight, a 32-year veteran of the produce industry, told The Produce News Dec. 4 that he "discussed [his] changing plans with the company back in early October and they asked if I would stay on until the end of their fiscal year, which this year would be February 1. So I will stay with the company until then. I am going to move back to the greater Toronto area in February and March. My family is there and my kids are in school there."
Mr. McKnight came to Wal-Mart after seven-and-a-half years at Sobeys Inc., where he served as vice president of produce and floral in its national procurement group in Ontario. Before Sobeys, he served as director of perishables at Co-Op Atlantic in the Canadian Maritimes and moved to Ontario to work for the Oshawa Group, which was purchased by Sobeys after six months.
"I was brought in to start a new division for Wal-Mart, which was their food global procurement operations. So I was employee number one in that area," Mr. McKnight said. "I came to develop a food model and business plan that would position Wal-Mart globally to facilitate the import and export of food and beverage. I thought that this would be a three- to five-year assignment, and I'm almost four years at it. We've fulfilled that mandate, and now it's just a matter of the company continuing to invest in the model we've established and it's going very well."
Among Mr. McKnight's successes at Wal-Mart was "being able to look at and understand the company, what it is and what it could be, and putting together a business plan model globally that meets the needs of all Wal-Mart stakeholders," he said. "We wanted to just break down all the silos that are in a very large organization and come together with one organization that crosses and really touches just about every business unit within this company. To put together that type of compelling case and have senior executives of the company in just about every country in the world, particularly in the U.S., sign off on that has been a great experience."
Though his division works with numerous support groups and has thousands of employees that are all supporting food imports and exports, Mr. McKnight said that "no matter how big your business is, it is really about the quality of your people. When I look at the people who have joined [global procurement] food over the last three-and-a-half years, not only in the U.S., but in South Africa, southern Europe, Mexico and southern South America, we've gone and attracted just incredible talent - the best in each one of those countries. A big company like Wal-Mart has great opportunities because of its size, growth and diversity, but nothing happens unless you put good people in front of it, and that's exactly what our first goal was: to attract, retain and inspire a world-class group of people that represent the company very, very well."
Though he declined to elaborate about his future plans, Mr. McKnight said that he would be "staying in the food business for sure, and part of that will obviously be touching produce because I am pretty passionate about that side of the business and have been exposed to it for a long time."
