B. Kevin Turner

B. Kevin Turner (born April 3, 1965) is an American businessman and investor who is currently the chairman of Zayo Group and the vice chairman of Albertsons/Safeway Inc.^[2] Turner was most recently president and CEO of Core Scientific, a technology company specializing in blockchain and artificial intelligence from 2018 to 2021. He previously served as the COO of Microsoft from 2005 to 2016.^[3] Prior to joining Microsoft, Turner was the CEO of Sam's Club and the CIO of Walmart.^[3] He is also the former vice chairman of Citadel LLC and CEO of Citadel Securities.^[4]

As the chief operating officer of Microsoft, Turner was responsible for the strategic and operational leadership of Microsoft's worldwide sales, field marketing and services organization.^[3] He also managed support and partner channels, Microsoft stores, and corporate support functions including information technology, licensing and pricing, and operations.^[5] His organization included over 51,000 employees in more than 190 countries.^[5]

Early life and education[]

Turner grew up in Stratford, Oklahoma.^[6] In 1987, Turner earned a Bachelor of Science in business administration with a concentration in management from East Central University in Ada, Oklahoma, where he was a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity.^[7] During his college years, he worked full-time as a cashier at Walmart.^[8]

Career[]

Early career at Walmart (1985-2000)[]

Turner worked nearly 20 years at Walmart. He began working as a cashier at Walmart in 1985 in his hometown of Ada, Oklahoma. While attending college, he rose through the store ranks, to customer service manager, housewares department manager and head office cashier. After several promotions, Turner found himself in the auditing department, where he came into contact with Sam Walton.^[9] On Walton's advice, Turner joined the company's information systems division, where he worked his way through a succession of jobs: business analyst, strategy manager, director, and then assistant CIO.^[10] In 1995, at the age of 29, Turner became the youngest corporate vice president and officer ever named at Walmart.^[11] In 1997, Turner became the recipient of the first "Sam M. Walton - Entrepreneur of the Year" award, which is the highest honor given at Walmart and is voted on by the Walton Family.^[12]

CIO of Walmart (2000-2002)[]

Turner with David Glass, Lee Scott and Rob Walton at the annual Walmart shareholders meeting

In February 2000, Turner became the chief information officer of Walmart at the age of 34, when former Walmart CIO Randy Mott departed for Dell.^[13] Turner had previously been the assistant CIO under Mott. As the CIO of Walmart, Turner oversaw Walmart's information technology and worldwide data-tracking system. The division consisted of over 2,000 employees in Bentonville, Arkansas. He led the team that developed retail-specific applications such as Retail Link at Walmart.^[14] During his tenure, Turner was one of the world's largest corporate buyers of technology, and directed the technology strategy of a company renowned for its deft use of computing to streamline everything from global procurement to neighborhood shopping trends.^[15]

CEO of Sam's Club (2002-2005)[]

In 2002, Turner replaced Tom Grimm as the president and chief executive officer of the Walmart-owned retailer Sam's Club, which had over 46 million members and over US$37.1 billion in annual sales.^[16] In addition to his role at Sam's Club, he was also a member of the executive committee at Walmart.^[17] Under Turner, Sam's Club focused on lowering prices to win over small-business customers. In his last fiscal year as CEO, Sam's Club turned in a 5.8 percent sales growth at stores open at least a year, which was nearly double the 2.9 percent sales growth at U.S. Walmart stores.^[18] During his tenure as CEO, Turner improved the performance of the warehouse clubs and closed the gap with Costco.^[15] Turner was the president and CEO of Sam's Club until he left for Microsoft in 2005.^[15] After his departure for Microsoft, Sam's Club named Doug McMillon as its CEO.^[19]

COO of Microsoft (2005-2016)[]

Turner at the Microsoft Store opening in New York City in 2015

In 2005, Turner was approached by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and CEO Steve Ballmer about overseeing the company's worldwide sales, marketing, services, and internal IT operations organization.^[15] He had previously worked with Gates and Ballmer during his time as CIO of Walmart.^[15] Turner accepted the offer and moved his wife and three children to Washington State where, in September 2005, he became the chief operating officer of Microsoft (the previous COO, Rick Belluzzo, had left the company in 2002 and no replacement had been hired).^[20]

From 2005 to 2016, Turner was responsible for the strategic and operational leadership of Microsoft's worldwide sales, field marketing and services organization. He also managed support and partner channels, Microsoft stores, and corporate support functions including information technology, licensing and pricing, and operations.^[5] His organization included over 51,000 employees in more than 190 countries. In 2009, Turner started Microsoft's entry into the retail stores business.^[21] Along with Steve Ballmer, Satya Nadella and other senior executives, Turner was on the Senior Leadership Team that set the overall strategy and direction for Microsoft.

As COO, Turner introduced procedures such as a "conditions of satisfaction" document that details what Microsoft will provide each client.^[22] A screw-up required a "correction of errors" in which employees autopsied the mistake and laid out steps to ensure it did not happen again.^[22] He also created standard scorecards with 30 categories to measure each subsidiary's performance.^[22] At Microsoft, Turner was known for his speeches at partner and sales events that amped up the rivalry with competitors like Oracle, Google and IBM.^[22]

When Steve Ballmer announced he was stepping down as CEO, Turner was one of three internal candidates on the CEO short-list, but ultimately lost the job to Satya Nadella.^[23]

In July 2016, after eleven years as COO, Turner left Microsoft to join Citadel LLC. From 2005 to 2016, Turner helped increase Microsoft's yearly revenue from $37 billion to over $93 billion.^[24] After his departure, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella stated that in his time as COO, Turner "built the sales force into the strategic asset it is today with incredible talent, while at the same time more than doubling our revenue and driving customer satisfaction scores to the highest in company history."^[3]

After his departure for Citadel LLC, Turner's responsibilities were split across five different Microsoft executives: Jean-Philippe Courtois, Amy Hood, Chris Capossela, Kurt DelBene and Judson Althoff.^[25]

Citadel LLC (2016-2017)[]

Turner at the 2016 Milken Conference

In July 2016, Turner left Microsoft to become the vice chairman of Citadel LLC and the chief executive officer of Citadel Securities.^[26] Citadel Securities is a market maker, providing liquidity and trade execution to retail and institutional clients.^[27] Turner's team included Jamil Nazarali, head of Citadel Execution Services, and Paul Hamill, global head of fixed income, currencies and commodities for Citadel Securities.^[28] His appointment occurred after Citadel Securities purchased the designated market-maker business of KCG Holdings and the Automated Trading Desk, a computer-based market making pioneer owned by Citigroup.^[29] On January 27, 2017, Turner left his position at Citadel Securities.^[4]

President and CEO of Core Scientific (2018-2021)[]

In 2018 Turner was appointed president and CEO of Core Scientific, an artificial intelligence, blockchain, transaction processing and application development company headquartered in Bellevue, Washington. The company was co-founded by former Myspace CTO and co-founder, Aber Whitcomb.^[30][31] Under his leadership Core Scientific became the largest blockchain hosting and digital mining company in North America.^[32] Turner stepped down from the role as president and CEO in May 2021.

Boards and other roles[]

From 2010 to 2020, Turner served on Nordstrom's board of directors. He was on the technology and finance committees as a part of his board role.^[33] In May 2020, Turner decided to not run for reelection on his board seat.^[34]

In 2017, Albertsons/Safeway appointed Turner as vice chairman of the Board of Managers of AB Acquisition, its direct parent company. He was also named as the senior advisor to Albertsons chairman and CEO, Robert G. Miller.^[35]

Alongside Brandin Cohen, Andy Cohen and Lewis Wolff, Turner invested in and served on the board of directors of Liquid IV, a California-based health-science nutrition and wellness company.^[36] The brand sells products for sleep, energy and hydration. In September 2020, Liquid IV was acquired by Unilever, a British-Dutch multinational consumer goods company.^[37]

In 2020, Turner was named chairman of the board of directors at Zayo Group.^[38] Prior to his appointment, Zayo Group was acquired by global investment firms, EQT Partners and Digital Colony in a deal valued at $14.3 billion.^[39]

Awards and honors[]

• Turner was ranked #4 on Fortune magazine's "40 Under 40" in 2003.^[40]
• He was among Time magazine's People To Watch In International Business in 2002.^[41]
• In 1997, Turner became the recipient of the first "Sam M. Walton - Entrepreneur of the Year" Award, which is the highest honor given at Walmart and is voted on by the Walton family.^[12]
• In 2003, East Central University named him a distinguished alumnus.^[42]
• CIO magazine awarded Turner the 20/20 Vision Award, CIO 100 Award and was named to the CIO Hall of Fame in 2007.^[43]
• CRN magazine listed Turner as one of the Top 25 Most Innovative Executives.^[44]
• Business 2.0 named Turner as one the 20 Young Execs You Need To Know.^[45]

Personal life[]

Turner lives with his wife, Shelley, in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. They have three children.^[6]

References[]