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Meet Walmart heir Stewart Walton. He’s the most powerful board member that you’ve probably never heard of. With some legacy family ties, he’s one of two current family members on the Walmart board of directors, and he’s the grandson of Sam Walton, the founder of Walmart, who created the retailer back in 1962. His cousin’s husband, Greg Penner is the current chairman of the Walmart board of directors. But, mostly out of the spotlight is Stewart Walton, the 43-year-old that is likely destined to oversee the family fortune. Now, the family holds roughly 45% of Walmart’s company stock, and for those keeping track, that’s worth $330 billion. CEO Doug McMillan told Yahoo Finance that having such active family members on the board is a quote, “huge advantage and very positive,” and he’s grateful for it. Having a big shareholder that is long-term oriented and that cares about our associates and about our culture is helpful. Stewart joined the board back in 2016, and in a rare interview with Yahoo Finance, he said it was something he always aspired to do. He told me the family has this internal governance process for those who are interested in joining. Raising your hand, well, that’s the first step. Then there’s a number of things you have to do to be qualified, and it’s part of a longer process that takes years. Current Walmart board member and former Yahoo CEO, Marissa Mayer, told Yahoo Finance the Walton family has an impressive protocol to develop its family members. She said they’re given workshops and even management coaching. She also said that they’re encouraged to get degrees, law degrees, MBAs, and study the business if they want to join the board. And we also learned that they have to work at Walmart in some sort of capacity at some point in their careers. Now, Marissa Mayer, she sits on the committee that Walton chairs. It’s the technology and e-commerce committee. He’s also joined by retired chairman and CEO of KPMG, Timothy Flynn, Bob Moritz, the retired chairperson of PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Starbucks CEO, Brian Nichol. And while board members like Stewart and others don’t actively manage the day-to-day operations, one long time retail analyst told Yahoo Finance, quote, “They need to oversee the operations to ensure that things are trending in the right direction, and how to spend and allocate capital.” Now, hiring the right people to run the business is also crucial, and he said probably the first priority, especially as it aims to compete with something that Sam Walton likely never could have imagined: Amazon. And it’s nearly two trillion dollar market cap on Walmart’s heels. Or other major challenges like President Trump’s tariffs, navigating the culture wars as Walmart pulled back its diversity equity inclusion efforts or ensuring that it keeps up with AI. When Yahoo Finance asked Stewart what he makes of the now global company with 2.1 million workers in nearly 11,000 stores, he called it mind-boggling, every time he thinks of the people working day in and day out. It’s a concept that soon could be in his hands, as he’s likely next in line to be chairman of the Walmart board. It’s something we’ll be watching out for, but it’ll be quite some time. For more about Stewart Walton, his endeavors, which includes making Northwest Arkansas a destination for cycling and aviation and so much more, check out our full story on yahoofinance.com.