Seven Questions to our Distingushed Alumnus
1. Serving for over 25 years as a tech executive and being associated with the biggest e-commerce giants, can you briefly encapsulate your experience?
I have enjoyed working with top companies during periods of growth, but I am most fortunate for working with and learning from great leaders. After grad school, I joined IBM as a Research Staff Member. Then, I held several roles at Amazon, including building technology to power the core retail function as the business was growing massively. I led cloud infrastructure and operations at Microsoft and then was responsible for Google’s advertising network, including display, video, app, ads and analytics before coming to Walmart.
Today I have a dream job --- leading Walmart Global Tech. I have global responsibility for our tech and enterprise business services that support about 11,500 stores in 26 countries, plus our eCommerce websites, supply chain, corporate functions and more than 2.2 million associates. As global CTO, I set our technical strategy that combines tech innovation advances with Walmart’s strengths to deliver the best customer experiences. Under my global CDO hat, I lead the team in building tools and systems to digitally transform our business operations. This includes using the scale and power of our data to create a competitive advantage while improving the productivity of our associates and their experience of being part of Walmart.
2. Your colleagues have described you as "a role model in seeking simplicity to drive operational excellence" and "possessing a long term view of things,’’ how important are these skills in one's career, and in what ways has IIT Madras been instrumental to set you on the career path?
That’s incredibly nice of people to say. These skills are essential, no matter your career path. Strong fundamentals, such as building for scale, organizing for speed, removing unnecessary steps and complexity enable to you to execute flawlessly, particularly when you are building a lot of systems or products and moving fast. The right balance of focusing on what’s in front of you while looking down the road strengthens your project or organization for the future.
The Institute certainly shaped my technical expertise and entrepreneurial spirit. I’m grateful for the education I received on campus and the ongoing support and connection with the IIT Madras family. Several alumni are part of our Walmart Global Tech team.
3. It has been 33 years since you graduated from the institute. Can you reminisce about your time at the Institute?
Like everyone reading this, I treasure my time at the Institute. In addition to learning from brilliant people – both professors and classmates – building friendships, having a tea break and spending time together are moments I remember fondly.
4. The fact that the IT sector has been quite successful to bring women on board with men and contribute its bit to fix the skewed gender ratio. However, the number of women in key leadership roles or executive technology roles has still been limited. What do you have to say about that?
The tech industry at large has opportunities to be more inclusive, not only with regard to gender ratios, but a range of underrepresented groups. This responsibility sits with all of us in IT.
Inclusion is a core part of our culture at Walmart. While several female officers and leaders of diverse backgrounds are part of our Global Tech team, we are always thinking about what we can do as an organization to be more inclusive. Building, retaining and nurturing diverse teams with diverse ideas is an essential part of our holistic approach. Last year Walmart kicked off new initiatives, including a Center for Racial Equity and shared value networks.
A great opportunity for all of us in tech is encouraging more people to explore STEM careers. Partnering with organizations such as Girls Who Code and organizing campus events and some of the ways we are introducing students to careers in tech. We also created a returnship program that helps experienced professionals return to the workforce after taking time off for caregiving.
5. For a retail chain like Walmart, at a time when it is transforming its associate experience and has been trying to bill itself as more of a tech company while being a retailer, what were the challenges that you faced during your tenure till now and how did you counter them as you hold the elevated role of CTO and CDO?
We’re proud of our retail roots. Walmart will always be a dynamic retailer that is transforming within and disrupting the industry. One of the reasons why I joined Walmart was the support of our Board of Directors and senior leaders. They acutely understand the role of technology, how it creates exceptional customer and associate experiences and the unique ways it can unlock business value.
When you’re new to a large organization that moves incredibly fast, knowing where to focus can be a challenge. A company like Walmart can do anything, but we can’t do everything. I spent a lot of time during the first weeks and months in my new role listening to business partners and Global Tech associates and learning all aspects of our business to set specific priorities for myself and the team.
6. What are the emerging trends in e-commerce and what do you think is going to be the next big thing especially in the post-pandemic world?
The relationship with the consumer has changed. It’s no longer only about getting them to come to us, we also must go to them. Wherever they are and however they’d like to engage with us. To align with consumer expectations, modern retail must offer shoppers the ability to move across platforms and physical locations as they discover goods and get inspired. We also must meet moment-in-time preferences for purchase and fulfillment. It’s highly personal, incredibly customized, and likely each individual engagement will be unique.
GenAI and more broadly, Al, is reshaping many aspects of retail and work. GenAI will help us move smarter, faster and more efficiently. It will make shopping easier and more convenient for our customers and members, and help our associates enjoy more satisfying work.
7. What would be your message to young professionals and students?
Appreciate diverse perspectives and experience. Right out of college, I found myself interacting with incredibly smart people in many different fields at IBM. When I was working on a project for portable storage solutions, the group of researchers we brought together sparked ideas that led to solutions in supply chain planning. Soon I learned the value of surrounding yourself not only with the best and brightest, but also with people who have deep expertise in different areas.
BIO :
Suresh Kumar is the executive vice president and global chief technology officer (CTO) and chief development officer (CDO) of Walmart, Inc. As the global CTO, Suresh sets our technical strategy, combining advances in computing with Walmart’s strengths to deliver the best customer experiences. As the global CDO, he leads the team in building tools and systems to digitally transform our business operations, using the scale and power of our data to deliver a competitive advantage while improving the productivity of our associates.
Suresh’s organization includes technologists from across Walmart that power all of our global businesses, including – Walmart U.S., Sam’s Club, and Walmart International. He also oversees our global shared services, data, cloud, infrastructure, and information security organizations.
Suresh has 25 years of technology leadership experience, most recently from Google where he served as vice president and general manager of display, video, app ads, and analytics. He was responsible for Google’s network advertising P&L, as well as advertising revenue on Google Play Store, Gmail, and YouTube. He led product and engineering teams for Google Ad Network, AdMob, AdSense, DV360, AdManager, Google Analytics, GA 360, and all associated products. Suresh led the acceleration of growth in the business and launched several product features while significantly reducing traffic acquisition and infrastructure costs.
Prior to Google, Suresh was the corporate vice president of Microsoft’s cloud infrastructure and operations, where he was responsible for planning, delivering, operating, and managing all physical infrastructure for cloud services. Suresh managed Microsoft’s portfolio of data centers, network, servers, fiber, supply chain, energy, construction, leases, and infrastructure automation. He drove key aspects of Microsoft’s cloud expansion, overseeing a doubling of its global reach and tripling of capacity during his tenure. He was also responsible for transformation of Microsoft’s cloud supply chain and operations, for increasing throughput, agility and safety, and for driving scale through automation.
Prior to joining Microsoft in 2014, Suresh spent 15 years at Amazon in various leadership roles, including as vice president of technology for retail systems and operations. Suresh helped Amazon’s retail business scale and grow tenfold by automating all of its internal processes, including demand forecasting, pricing optimization, promotional merchandizing, and vendor management. He also led Amazon’s retail operations that managed its massive selection, from creating and maintaining its catalog to monitoring and reacting to the competitive landscape. Prior to this, Suresh led Amazon’s retail supply chain and inventory management systems.
Before Amazon, Suresh was a research staff member at IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center, where he worked on a number of areas, from collaborative supply chain planning to shock modelling and protection of portable hard disk drives.
Suresh holds a PhD in engineering from Princeton University and a bachelor of technology from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras.
2. Your colleagues have described you as "a role model in seeking simplicity to drive operational excellence" and "possessing a long term view of things,’’ how important are these skills in one's career, and in what ways has IIT Madras been instrumental to set you on the career path?
That’s incredibly nice of people to say. These skills are essential, no matter your career path. Strong fundamentals, such as building for scale, organizing for speed, removing unnecessary steps and complexity enable to you to execute flawlessly, particularly when you are building a lot of systems or products and moving fast. The right balance of focusing on what’s in front of you while looking down the road strengthens your project or organization for the future.
The Institute certainly shaped my technical expertise and entrepreneurial spirit. I’m grateful for the education I received on campus and the ongoing support and connection with the IIT Madras family. Several alumni are part of our Walmart Global Tech team.
3. It has been 33 years since you graduated from the institute. Can you reminisce about your time at the Institute?
Like everyone reading this, I treasure my time at the Institute. In addition to learning from brilliant people – both professors and classmates – building friendships, having a tea break and spending time together are moments I remember fondly.
4. The fact that the IT sector has been quite successful to bring women on board with men and contribute its bit to fix the skewed gender ratio. However, the number of women in key leadership roles or executive technology roles has still been limited. What do you have to say about that?
The tech industry at large has opportunities to be more inclusive, not only with regard to gender ratios, but a range of underrepresented groups. This responsibility sits with all of us in IT.
Inclusion is a core part of our culture at Walmart. While several female officers and leaders of diverse backgrounds are part of our Global Tech team, we are always thinking about what we can do as an organization to be more inclusive. Building, retaining and nurturing diverse teams with diverse ideas is an essential part of our holistic approach. Last year Walmart kicked off new initiatives, including a Center for Racial Equity and shared value networks.
A great opportunity for all of us in tech is encouraging more people to explore STEM careers. Partnering with organizations such as Girls Who Code and organizing campus events and some of the ways we are introducing students to careers in tech. We also created a returnship program that helps experienced professionals return to the workforce after taking time off for caregiving.
5. For a retail chain like Walmart, at a time when it is transforming its associate experience and has been trying to bill itself as more of a tech company while being a retailer, what were the challenges that you faced during your tenure till now and how did you counter them as you hold the elevated role of CTO and CDO?
We’re proud of our retail roots. Walmart will always be a dynamic retailer that is transforming within and disrupting the industry. One of the reasons why I joined Walmart was the support of our Board of Directors and senior leaders. They acutely understand the role of technology, how it creates exceptional customer and associate experiences and the unique ways it can unlock business value.
When you’re new to a large organization that moves incredibly fast, knowing where to focus can be a challenge. A company like Walmart can do anything, but we can’t do everything. I spent a lot of time during the first weeks and months in my new role listening to business partners and Global Tech associates and learning all aspects of our business to set specific priorities for myself and the team.
6. What are the emerging trends in e-commerce and what do you think is going to be the next big thing especially in the post-pandemic world?
The relationship with the consumer has changed. It’s no longer only about getting them to come to us, we also must go to them. Wherever they are and however they’d like to engage with us. To align with consumer expectations, modern retail must offer shoppers the ability to move across platforms and physical locations as they discover goods and get inspired. We also must meet moment-in-time preferences for purchase and fulfillment. It’s highly personal, incredibly customized, and likely each individual engagement will be unique.
GenAI and more broadly, Al, is reshaping many aspects of retail and work. GenAI will help us move smarter, faster and more efficiently. It will make shopping easier and more convenient for our customers and members, and help our associates enjoy more satisfying work.
7. What would be your message to young professionals and students?
Appreciate diverse perspectives and experience. Right out of college, I found myself interacting with incredibly smart people in many different fields at IBM. When I was working on a project for portable storage solutions, the group of researchers we brought together sparked ideas that led to solutions in supply chain planning. Soon I learned the value of surrounding yourself not only with the best and brightest, but also with people who have deep expertise in different areas.
BIO :
Suresh Kumar is the executive vice president and global chief technology officer (CTO) and chief development officer (CDO) of Walmart, Inc. As the global CTO, Suresh sets our technical strategy, combining advances in computing with Walmart’s strengths to deliver the best customer experiences. As the global CDO, he leads the team in building tools and systems to digitally transform our business operations, using the scale and power of our data to deliver a competitive advantage while improving the productivity of our associates.
Suresh’s organization includes technologists from across Walmart that power all of our global businesses, including – Walmart U.S., Sam’s Club, and Walmart International. He also oversees our global shared services, data, cloud, infrastructure, and information security organizations.
Suresh has 25 years of technology leadership experience, most recently from Google where he served as vice president and general manager of display, video, app ads, and analytics. He was responsible for Google’s network advertising P&L, as well as advertising revenue on Google Play Store, Gmail, and YouTube. He led product and engineering teams for Google Ad Network, AdMob, AdSense, DV360, AdManager, Google Analytics, GA 360, and all associated products. Suresh led the acceleration of growth in the business and launched several product features while significantly reducing traffic acquisition and infrastructure costs.
Prior to Google, Suresh was the corporate vice president of Microsoft’s cloud infrastructure and operations, where he was responsible for planning, delivering, operating, and managing all physical infrastructure for cloud services. Suresh managed Microsoft’s portfolio of data centers, network, servers, fiber, supply chain, energy, construction, leases, and infrastructure automation. He drove key aspects of Microsoft’s cloud expansion, overseeing a doubling of its global reach and tripling of capacity during his tenure. He was also responsible for transformation of Microsoft’s cloud supply chain and operations, for increasing throughput, agility and safety, and for driving scale through automation.
Prior to joining Microsoft in 2014, Suresh spent 15 years at Amazon in various leadership roles, including as vice president of technology for retail systems and operations. Suresh helped Amazon’s retail business scale and grow tenfold by automating all of its internal processes, including demand forecasting, pricing optimization, promotional merchandizing, and vendor management. He also led Amazon’s retail operations that managed its massive selection, from creating and maintaining its catalog to monitoring and reacting to the competitive landscape. Prior to this, Suresh led Amazon’s retail supply chain and inventory management systems.
Before Amazon, Suresh was a research staff member at IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center, where he worked on a number of areas, from collaborative supply chain planning to shock modelling and protection of portable hard disk drives.
Suresh holds a PhD in engineering from Princeton University and a bachelor of technology from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras.
