Senior Vice President and Chief Tax Officer
Claire Babineaux-Fontenot has seen finance from the vantage of government official, administrative law judge, Big 4 accountant, private law practitioner and industry executive. She is currently the Senior Vice President and Chief Tax Officer.Immediately prior to joining Wal-Mart, Claire served as Partner-in-Charge of the law firm of Adams & Reese (Baton Rouge office) where she practiced in the areas of tax and general commercial litigation. She also held the post of Dispute Resolution Practice Group Leader for the Southwest Region of PriceWaterhouseCoopers, LLP “PWC”. Before joining PWC, she was appointed by the governor of the state of Louisiana to serve as Assistant Secretary of the Office of Legal Affairs at the Louisiana Department of Revenue. Claire holds a L.L.M. in Taxation from Southern Methodist University School of Law in Dallas, TX; a J.D., from Southern University Law Center in Baton Rouge, LA; a B.S. from the University of Louisiana in Lafayette, LA. She also attended the Kellogg School of Management (Executive Training Program).
Born in Opelousas, a small town in South Central Louisiana, Claire is married to Barry Fontenot, also of Opelousas. They have two children, Barry J. Fontenot Jr. (17) and Sydney A. Fontenot (13). The family resides in Springdale, Arkansas.
She has served on the Board of Directors of many professional and civic organizations, and has been a frequent speaker regarding tax and general civic and legal topics.