Wal-Mart executive Ann Cato spoke in front of students Wednesday about the company’s business practices. (Nick McCarthy)

SMU’s Business Leaders Spotlight presented keynote speaker Ann Cato, the vice president of the People Division Administration for Wal-Mart, on Wednesday afternoon.

Cato has worked in various sectors of the company. She began her career with Wal-Mart as an hourly cashier to help finance her education. She is responsible for establishing the first Global Ethics Office in September 2006.

Cato began her lecture by assuring the audience that she would be as candid as possible about Wal-Mart’s business practices. She started by stressing the fact that Wal-Mart’s combination of business oriented goals and unique culture was what made it so successful.

The stress on the importance of culture throughout Cato’s lecture played an important role in her insistence that a company must be built on integrity, respect and service to the customer.

“That is what sets Wal-Mart apart… Anyone can sell items at low cost, but it is our culture that gives us such a large competitive advantage, and makes us the No. 1 retailer in the world,” Cato said.

Cato listed the ways in which Wal-Mart is attempting to better the community and the environment. She said Wal-Mart’s mission is to save people money so they have the opportunity to live better.

In a private study, it was estimated that Wal-Mart saved the average household $2,300 per year.

Cato also discussed Wal-Mart’s push to make its stores more environmentally friendly. She said that by using its size to their advantage, Wal-Mart believes that it can do something positive. It’s are cutting back on packaging supplies, attempting to have zero percent waste, and eliminate 30 percent of the energy used in its stores.

Wal-Mart opened one of its first “green stores” in McKinney. This store’s was designed to be environmentally friendly.

The green Wal-Mart features wind turbines as an alternative power generator and environmentally friendly landscaping, including a parking lot made of used tires. The majority of the store’s daily lighting comes from skylights.

Junior business management and Spanish major Jessica Martin praised Cato’s positive outlook on the community and environment.

“Ann Cato was so inspiring, not only as a business leader, but as a woman with the power to alter the world with simple changes in Wal-Marts outlook on environmental and diversity issues,” said Martin.

Cato closed with her insight on how Wal-Mart’s servant leadership and cultural practices, funneled through integrity, are the key to success.

She said, “You have to have integrity and passion about what you are doing. Your degree will get you in the door, but you have to apply what you learned to get the results you want.”