Walmart Canada names Gonzalo Gebara as president and CEO
Walmart Canada announced on Tuesday the appointment of Gonzalo Gebara to the position of president and CEO, effective January 30, 2023.
He succeeds JP Suarez, executive vice president, chief administration officer and regional CEO for Walmart International, who led Walmart Canada on an interim basis for the past six months and who will continue to oversee the market.
Gebara first joined Walmart in 2000 and most recently held the role of CEO for Walmart Chile. In this role, he is credited for accelerating the company’s transformation, making life easier for customers by giving them access to what they need.
At Walmart, he also previously held roles across finance, strategy, e-commerce, marketing and operations, with teams across multiple markets, including the United States, Argentina and Chile.
“Gonzalo is an experienced retail leader with extensive knowledge across the industry and our business. Under his leadership, he led the transformation of the business in Chile, strengthening our omnichannel capabilities and developing an ecosystem of services for our Chilian customers,” said Judith McKenna, president and CEO, Walmart International.
“Gonzalo is ideally suited to lead Walmart Canada as it continues its journey to help even more Canadian families save money and live better.”
The company also made several senior executive leadership changes earlier this year including the appointment of Nabeela Ixtabalan as chief operations officer, and Sam Wankowski as chief merchandising officer, as well as Laurent Duray as chief e-commerce officer, and John Bayliss as executive vice president, transformation officer.
“I’m very excited to be joining the Walmart Canada team,” said Gebara. “Walmart Canada has over 100,000 dedicated and talented associates and a strong foundation to build on. I look forward to working with our associates to continue to strengthen, innovate and grow our business in Canada.”
Walmart Canada operates a chain of more than 400 stores nationwide serving 1.5 million customers each day.