{"slug": "target-appoints-first-chief-ai-officer-to-lead-ai-initiatives", "title": "Target appoints first chief AI officer to lead AI initiatives", "summary": "Target Corporation has appointed Chandhu Nair as its first-ever senior vice president and chief AI officer, effective August 24, 2026, to lead artificial intelligence initiatives under new CEO Michael Fiddelke. Nair, who previously led data, AI, and innovation at Lowe's, will report to Prat Vemana, executive vice president and chief information and product officer, as part of a broader leadership reshuffling.", "body_md": "Via corporate.target.com\n\n# Target appoints first chief AI officer to lead AI initiatives\n\nRetail giant taps former Lowe's AI leader Chandhu Nair to build out artificial intelligence strategy under new CEO\n\nTarget just created a brand new C-suite seat and filled it in one move. The retailer has appointed Chandhu Nair as its first-ever senior vice president and chief AI officer, effective August 24, 2026.\n\nNair comes from Lowe’s, where he led data, AI, and innovation efforts as SVP. His new gig at Target puts him at the center of a broader leadership reshuffling designed to make artificial intelligence a core pillar of the company’s retail operations.\n\n## A new CEO, a new AI playbook\n\nThe hire didn’t happen in a vacuum. Michael Fiddelke took over as Target’s CEO on February 1, 2026, and the creation of a dedicated chief AI officer role signals where his priorities lie. Under Fiddelke, Target has been telegraphing a desire to weave AI more deeply into merchandising, customer engagement, and operational workflows.\n\nNair will report into a technology organization led by Prat Vemana, the executive vice president and chief information and product officer, who has already been pushing AI and automation projects across Target’s tech stack.\n\nAs part of the same leadership shuffle, Purvi Shah has been appointed senior vice president of user experience.\n\n## Who is Chandhu Nair\n\nNair brings more than 20 years of experience in technology and AI to Target. Before his stint at Lowe’s, he held roles at Staples and co-founded Cognitive Retail, a company focused on applying artificial intelligence to the retail sector.\n\n**Disclosure:** This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our\n\n[Editorial Policy](https://cryptobriefing.com/editorial-policy/).", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/target-appoints-first-chief-ai-officer-to-lead-ai-initiatives", "canonical_source": "https://cryptobriefing.com/target-first-chief-ai-officer/", "published_at": "2026-08-11 16:13:50+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-08-11 16:26:35.166304+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-policy"], "entities": ["Target Corporation", "Chandhu Nair", "Lowe's", "Michael Fiddelke", "Prat Vemana", "Purvi Shah", "Staples", "Cognitive Retail"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/target-appoints-first-chief-ai-officer-to-lead-ai-initiatives", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/target-appoints-first-chief-ai-officer-to-lead-ai-initiatives.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/target-appoints-first-chief-ai-officer-to-lead-ai-initiatives.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/target-appoints-first-chief-ai-officer-to-lead-ai-initiatives.jsonld"}}