In-stock insights on tap from top Walmart exec

Walmart Vice President of Supply Chain Services Debbie Hodges is the featured speaker at the April gathering of Doing Business in Bentonville.

The organization recently confirmed that Hodges would be the featured speaker at an event to be held Thursday April 16 at 7 a.m. at the Four Points by Sheraton in Bentonville.

Among the topics Hodges plans to address are the role and structure of the Supply Chain Services team, key initiatives currently underway and the impact on suppliers.

Recent years have seen a heightened emphasis at Walmart in the area of on shelf availability, or simply OSA, and the implementation of new supply chain strategies to ensure products are accessible for shoppers to purchase.

Hodges is ideally situated within Walmart to elaborate on key initiatives considering her role is cross-functional. Hodges is a Walmart veteran who joined the company in 1988, but she has only been in her current role since February 2014.

At that time, Hodges was tasked with creating a Supply Chain Services team that could work across the company to collaborate with suppliers, replenishment, merchandising, innovation, transportation and logistics in developing efficient solutions for the business.