Wal-Mart Stores has announced the promotion of 17-year company veteran Karen Roberts to executive vice president and general counsel. The appointment is effective February 1, 2013, and she will report to executive vice president and corporate secretary Jeff Gearhart.

In her new role, Roberts will manage the legal department, which is responsible for handling all legal matters affecting the company in its domestic and international markets. Gearhart will maintain oversight for the legal function in addition to his newly expanded responsibilities for Walmart's compliance, ethics and investigations teams as part of the company's steps to align the functions and further strengthen its global compliance efforts.

Roberts is currently executive vice president and president of Walmart Realty for Walmart U.S., where she is responsible for Walmart's real estate operations. Prior to that, she was senior vice president and chief compliance officer for Walmart U.S., where she oversaw the establishment of best in class food safety and product safety programs and directed a recycling program that kept more than 80% of all waste generated by U.S. operations out of landfills in 2011. Roberts joined Walmart in 1995.