Target CEO Resigns Amid Falling Sales

That year, Target’s board scrapped its mandatory retirement age of 65, allowing him to stay on during a pivotal period for the company as it worked to revive traffic and growth.

Over the past 20 years at Target, Fiddelke, 49 years old, has been credited with being instrumental in building many of the company’s core strengths, holding leadership roles across merchandising, finance, operations and human resources.

In his current position, Target said Fiddelke has overseen efforts that enabled exponential growth across the business, including investments to build and scale the company’s stores, supply chain, digital capabilities and team. He also spearheaded enterprise efforts to deliver more than $2 billion in efficiencies.

The company had already warned earlier this year that there would be year-over-year profit pressure in its first quarter relative to the remainder of the year, due in part to tariff uncertainty.

To try to get back to long-term profitable growth, the company announced in May that it had developed a new multi-year growth initiative, called Enterprise Acceleration Office, and made changes to its executive suite.

The Enterprise Acceleration Office initiative will specifically help the company operate more nimbly, “creating conditions for speed, adaptability, innovation and resilience,” Cornell said.