Meet Andy Ruben

Andy Ruben is a Founder, CEO, Board Chair & Advisor, Lead Independent Director, and C-Suite Executive with 25+ years of experience in retail and consumer brands.

Andy Ruben builds businesses that didn’t exist before. Andy was recruited to Walmart (NYSE: WMT) to lead corporate strategy. Later, serving as the company’s first Chief Sustainability Officer, Andy embedded environmental priorities in everyday operations and the P&L while pushing the topic from the shop floor to Fortune 500 boardrooms. He then re-imagined a $20 billion private-brand portfolio, driving double-digit growth and unlocking $1 billion in annual savings, before taking on global e-commerce strategy, where he launched Walmart’s first grocery-delivery service and oversaw the retailer’s early omnichannel model.

Seeing the next inflection point, Andy founded Trove in 2012 and, five years later, pioneered branded resale with Patagonia’s Worn Wear program. Since then he has partnered with more than fifty brands—including Levi’s, REI, lululemon, Canada Goose, Gucci, Carhartt and On—to build their own resale channels, turning the concept into retail’s fastest-growing segment. Trove has appeared on Inc.’s Fastest-Growing Companies list and on both Fast Company’s and Fortune’s Most Innovative Companies lists, and Andy now chairs its board.

Andy serves as Lead Independent Director and ESG Committee Chair at Zevia (NYSE: ZVIA) and as a Director of Goodwill Industries International, the $8.6 billion nonprofit retailer. He is a Senior Advisor to Boston Consulting Group and an advisor to Earthshot Ventures, and from 2017 through mid-2024 he sat on Cerberus Capital Management’s Competitiveness Council, working with private-equity investors on value creation and governance.

A TED speaker, Andy has appeared on NPR’s All Things Considered and in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Forbes. He has testified before both the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives on business and sustainability, and he is a frequent speaker on the future of retail, circularity and growth strategy. His honors include Walmart’s Sam M. Walton Entrepreneur of the Year award, Chain Store Age’s Retail Rising Star, and inclusion in Arkansas Business’s 40 Under 40.