Walmart Inc. (New York Stock Exchange:WMT) Goldman Sachs Global Sustainability Forum September 26, 2024 1:00 pm ET
Company participants
Kathleen McLaughlin – Executive Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer
Conference Call Participants
Katharine McShane – Goldman Sachs
Katharine McShane
Well. Hello everyone. Thanks for joining us. We're excited to talk about the business case for sustainability with Walmart's Kathleen McLaughlin. I'm Kate McShane. I'm the hardline analyst here at Goldman Sachs and I also cover Walmart.
I'm pleased to introduce you to Kathleen, Executive Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer at Walmart. She serves as president of the board of directors of the Walmart Foundation. Kathleen is also responsible for programs that help Walmart create opportunities through jobs and sourcing, promote supply chain sustainability, foster diversity, equity and inclusion, and build inclusive and resilient communities.
Before joining Walmart in 2013, he spent more than 20 years at a global consulting firm, McKinsey & Company. Kathleen serves on the boards of the Council of Foundations, the World Wildlife Fund, the World Resources Institute, and is an advisor to the Financial Markets and Impact team at Nature Conservancies.
Thanks for joining us.
Kathleen McLaughlin
Thank you. It's great to be here.
Question and answer session
Q – Katharine McShane
So maybe we can start with some initial comments and you could walk us through Walmart's shared value initiatives and how sustainable investors in general should measure effectiveness and success.
Kathleen McLaughlin
Sure. Well, interesting title for today's conversation. And I guess the argument for sustainability is actually the argument for value creation. And it's about recognizing that there are certain social and environmental issues, social issues that influence the long-term value creation potential of a company.
And these things: the people in the room, I'm sure, have spent a lot of time and play on