After a $30-billion chapter, Brian Cornell stays at Target’s table as Executive Chair

Retail CEOs often leave when the handoff arrives. Brian Cornell stayed in the room. On February 1, 2026, he became Executive Chair of Target Corporation after serving as chair and chief executive from August 2014 through January 2026 — a stretch Target’s own board materials credit with helping grow the business by more than $30 billion.

Target is the big-box retailer Americans know for trendy-yet-affordable apparel, home, beauty, grocery, and essentials under the Target name and owned brands, plus digital ordering that feeds stores and drive-up. Red carts, store brands, and a design-forward aisle mix are how shoppers describe the company Cornell led for more than a decade.

His public résumé before Target reads like a consumer-goods tour: CEO roles and senior posts at PepsiCo Americas Foods, Sam’s Club, Michaels, and Safeway, with decades doing business across North America, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. That vendor-and-competitor range is exactly what Target’s board cites as boardroom value.

The recent public fact is the orderly succession itself — CEO seat completed, Executive Chair role begun — while Cornell remains a named leader on Target’s governance pages and continues retail-industry roles such as National Retail Federation executive committee service. For this profile, the story is continuity with craft: a merchant-operator who grew Target’s public footprint and now chairs the next chapter from the board side.