Wal-Mart hires new Russian head

Wal-Mart Stores has hired Avril Conroy, a former executive with BP Plc’s Russian oil joint venture, to lead the retailer’s Moscow office, according to a Bloomberg report. Wal-Mart has publicly expressed an interest in entering Russia for several years and in 2008 the company opened an office in Moscow that today is said to be staffed by 30 people. The office was previously led by Stephan Fanderl, but he left the company last fall. Wal-Mart spokesman Kevin Gardener declined to provide Conroy’s title or a start date, according to Bloomberg.