BENTONVILLE, Ark. – The former chief of Maine’s International Trade Center has accepted a top position with Wal-Mart.

Richard Coyle, who was Maine’s lead trade official for six years, will join Wal-Mart in July as its director of international corporate affairs, according to a release from the retail giant.

Under Coyle’s leadership as Maine state director of international trade and president of the Maine International Trade Center, state exports grew by more than 30 percent. Coyle left the MITC last year to form his own consulting firm. In this fiscal year, Wal-Mart generated revenues of approximately $349 billion in the United States and 13 foreign markets.

Coyle holds degrees from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and Cornell University’s Johnson Graduate School of Management. He serves as chairman of the Industry Advisory Board at the Loeb-Sullivan School of International Business & Logistics at Maine Maritime Academy.

He and his family live in Cumberland.