Walmart’s chief spokesman, who resigned last week, admitted he made a “mistake” after the world’s largest retailer caught him padding his education credentials.
The Bentonville, Ark.-based company discovered that David Tovar never earned a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Delaware in 1996 — a detail that has appeared in his corporate biography.
A school official confirmed that Tovar attended the university but said he didn’t finish the coursework to complete his degree, according to Bloomberg News, which first reported Tuesday on the circumstances of his departure.
In an interview, 40-year-old Tovar said the company was in the process of promoting him to senior vice president when a more extensive background check flagged the “discrepancy” in his education.
“I was 100 percent transparent about it,” he said. “As a result of not having a degree and not disclosing it, they said they would not promote me.
“After a series of discussions, I agreed to leave the company.”
Tovar told The Post he studied at the university for four years from 1992 to 1996 and even participated in the graduation ceremony.
He said he got his first job shortly thereafter, only to learn that he was a few credits shy of his degree.
“I was an art major going into a communications field,” Tovar said. “I didn’t think a degree was necessary to pursuing my career.”
Tovar, who said he was 22 at the time, described the bogus degree as an error that he failed to correct.
“It was an error of omission,” he said. “That’s a mistake, that’s on me. I’m going to move forward in the right way.”
Walmart didn’t return a request for comment.