The Worldwide Women’s Association Recognizes Maria Sicairos
Maria Sicairos is a Senior Manager for Global Ethics and Compliance, Certified Export Specialist, and offers over 14 years of experience in her field. As Senior Manager II, Specialty Compliance & Ethics at Walmart, she completes the product lifecycle to support reuse and the repurposing of products and materials. She has enjoyed a natural progression in her field and is known for her expertise in reverse logistics.
With expertise in Reverse Logistic, Global Trade and Exports, she currently lives in Bentonville, AR with her son and their dog. Maria was born and raised in Durango, Mexico. She has made Northwest Arkansas her home for the last 20 years. A first-generation college graduate, she completed her Business Administration Associates Degree from Northwest Community College. She then completed a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a Supply Chain & Marketing focus from The University of Arkansas, and Masters in Business Administration with International Business as concentration from John Brown University. She is also a certified Export Specialist.
A member of the International Honor Society, she was a recipient of the Golden Key of Arkansas Award, making her a Member of the International Golden Keys Honor Society- University of Arkansas. She partnered with stakeholders to create an enterprise wide Restricted/Denied Party Lists and Sanctions screening solution, scoring above industry average and met all “Mandatory Element” grounded on laws, regulations, and/or enforcement. She also partnered with vendors to develop the in-house Export Compliance Management Application: Return on investment – 161% and operation cost saving of 8.3 M since year 2017. She also oversaw the development of an automated filing with U.S Census module, increasing team capacity by 80%, and decrease the waiting time from 20 minute to 1 minute per shipment. Maria is a Member of National Society of Leadership and Success- Northwest Arkansas Community College and Walmart Path Leadership and Gateway Program.
Maria began her professional career at Walmart Inc. In 2006, Maria worked at the Walmart Return Center as a product verifier and gained experience in multiple areas. In August of 2013, she had the opportunity to transition to the Walmart Reverse Logistics Team as a Specialist to support electronics refurbishment, liquidation, and sustainability programs. In 2015, Maria joined the Walmart Export Compliance department as an Export Specialist where her primary role was to manage export operational functions like item regulatory review, EEI filings, record retention, screenings, and end-use(r) verification. In this role, Maria found an affinity for strategic improvement. Maria found a professional niche in this department and has been promoted to roles such as Manager of Strategy and Integration, Exports and Sr. Manager for Strategy and Integration, Exports. A key part of these roles was to partner with the business to develop compliant export strategies, integration of export compliance functions into developed processes and then transition to execution. In her current Specialty Compliance and Ethics management role, Maria has consolidated responsibility for the export compliance core pillars (Execution, Strategy and Integration, and Audits) for Sam’s Club, CMA USA export to Mexico, Walmart Central America, and Walmart Puerto Rico. She currently assists with the development and implementation of initiatives that will enable business growth and simplify processes. Her primary responsibilities are to continue enhancing the much-needed Export Management System and Machine Learning Classification tools to bring Walmart, Sam’s Club, and all other business entities into compliance with the US Export Control Regulations and position the US Export Team to be more globally focused. Previous to Walmart, she worked at Cargill Meat Solutions as a Quality Assurance Lead and Tyson Foods as a production team lead.
Maria’s personal ethics consist of qualities such as integrity, loyalty, empathy, patience, fairness, respect, humility, honesty, love, and faith. These fundamental traits shape my temperament, character, and behavior and I try my best to act in alignment with them. They are my footprint, which gives me the courage to serve as a constructive, reputable, respectable, capable, and competent leader, family member, co-worker, friend, community member and also enables her to serve the Lord.
She enjoys spending time with family, exercising at the gym, cooking and mentoring associates that want to learn different skills or who struggle with managing daily responsibilities and balancing career goals. Maria recently earned a master’s degree in International Business from the University of Arkansas. She credits her success to hard work, passion and perseverance, and is looking forward to connecting with likeminded professionals.
Worldwide Women’s Association Member Maria Sicairos can be found on the Association Directory, where she is looking forward to networking with you.
