Since we published the 2026 edition of the Fortune Most Powerful Women list almost two weeks ago, Fortune.com readers have been especially intrigued by one of those stories. It’s not about a woman at the very top of the ranking—but a new entrant who makes her MPW debut at No. 87.
The newcomer in question is Latriece Watkins, now the CEO of Sam’s Club. Watkins is a three-decade Walmart veteran who started her latest role in February. In April, she took a quick trip from Bentonville to New York, where we met up at Walmart’s fashion office in Manhattan.
Sam’s Club is a segment CEO position within Walmart. But it’s a $96 billion business. If it were a standalone company on the Fortune 500, it would sit at No. 43—above Tesla and below Target. Watkins is running a business 10 times the size of what some Fortune 500 CEOs are running.
And most importantly, the Sam’s Club job has traditionally served as a proving ground for even bigger things to come. Alumni of the role have gone on to run all of Walmart, plus Target and Walgreens (Roz Brewer made that jump). The Sam’s Club division is run “at arm’s length” from the rest of Walmart, ex-Sam’s Club chief Brewer explained to me, and the position comes with a seat on Walmart’s executive committee—and exposure to its board of directors.
