Brian Cornell

Brian Cornell is the Chairman and CEO of Target Corporation, one of America's largest general merchandise retailers with over 1,950 stores and annual revenue exceeding $100 billion. Born in 1959, Cornell built his career across major consumer-facing companies including Safeway, Michaels Stores, Sam's Club, and PepsiCo before joining Target in 2014 as the first externally hired CEO in the company's history. Cornell inherited a company in crisis — Target was reeling from a massive data breach in 2013 that compromised 40 million credit cards, and its expansion into Canada was hemorrhaging money. He made the decisive call to shut down all 133 Canadian stores, writing off $5.4 billion, and redirected investment toward revitalizing the core U.S. business. This difficult early decision established his reputation for making bold strategic calls. His signature achievement has been Target's multi-billion-dollar store remodeling program and the development of over 50 private-label brands including Good & Gather, All in Motion, and Threshold. These exclusive brands differentiate Target from competitors and generate higher margins. He also invested heavily in same-day fulfillment capabilities — Drive Up, Order Pickup, and Shipt — which proved prescient when the COVID-19 pandemic drove explosive demand for contactless shopping. Cornell leads Target through a challenging period of post-pandemic normalization, inventory management complexities, and increased shrinkage from retail theft. His strategy of positioning Target as "the best of mass and the best of class" — combining value pricing with an upscale shopping experience — aims to differentiate the chain from both Walmart's price focus and Amazon's convenience dominance.