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Retail

Target Promotes Mulligan to COO to Help Cornell’s Revamp

By Publications Checkout
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Target Promotes Mulligan to COO to Help Cornell’s Revamp

Target promoted John Mulligan to the newly created role of chief operating officer to help Chief Executive Officer Brian Cornell as he revamps the retailer.

The move is effective 1 September, the US-based company said Monday in a statement. Cathy Smith, who previously served as chief financial officer of Express Scripts, will succeed Mulligan as CFO.

The appointments are the biggest management moves yet under Cornell, the former PepsiCo Inc. executive who took the reins at Target a year ago. He’s been working to boost US traffic by focusing on Target’s best categories, including apparel, home goods and toys, and exiting less core areas like its pharmacy and Canadian operations.

Mulligan served as Target’s interim CEO for more than three months after Gregg Steinhafel stepped down in May amid slumping sales and the aftermath of a hacker attack that exposed millions of customers’ data.

Mulligan, a 19-year veteran of the retailer, didn’t sit idly by as the board searched for a permanent leader. He moved the company’s entire leadership team to the 26th floor of its headquarters in Minneapolis, allowing for faster decisions. He also scaled back its four governance meetings, which had focused on the supply chain, marketing, design and capital spending. He even changed the executive committee’s name to the “leadership team.”

News by Bloomberg, edited by ESM

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