Target Leadership Updates Prepare Coming for Coming Years

This morning, Target released significant leadership news regarding their CEO Brian Cornell and Chief Supply Chain Officer, Art Valdez.

A few months back I wrote a post about the value of having the right inventory, in-stock, that seemed to resonate with many in this environment - particularly when consumer preferences and aspirational shopping has been replaced by budget prioritization due to rising prices and increased economic uncertainty.

Target, fresh off a quarter there their net operating margin plummeted to 1% from its typical ~8% in the face of these changes, has gotten the memo more than anyone, and it reflects in leadership too. Art Valdez former SVP Supply Chain, Target, retired, former long-timer Amazoner, who has helped spearhead Target's omnichannel transformation The traits that Art brought to the role include building new capabilities at scale, in a way that fit Target's business model.

But the future is different. Gretchen McCarthy, is the new SVP of Supply Chain at Target. Her background? Head of Global Inventory Management.

Can't say I'm surprised. Much like Amazon moving on from Dave Clark, Target is following suit replacing a builder with an optimizer. That's no slight, either. It's not like Target won't continue to build, but an omnichannel playbook is already written. It needs to be updated and improved.

The bigger problem with inventory is: how much inventory to have, when, and where. That is the job of inventory management and one that Target will be thankful they prioritized going forward.

Target also has the distinct advantage of one of the best COO's in the business in John Mulligan, who helped set the stage for Target's transformation even before Brian Cornell arrived. Probably John is in the pole position for that job, having a catbird seat to Brian Cornell's tenure.

The company also made a (relatively minor in the grand scheme) announcement that CEO Brian Cornell - who just turned 65 and hit the normal company retirement age - will stay fully another 3 years. That's also good news for Target as Brian has been a transformational leader for the firm.

Leadership reflects focus and priorities, and these changes are definitely about Target's.