Target appointed Chandhu Nair as its first chief AI officer and SVP, the company said Tuesday. Nair will join the company Aug. 24 after spending more than six years at Lowe's, most recently as SVP of stores, data, AI and innovation. The move reflects CEO Michael Fiddelke's multiyear turnaround strategy introduced in March to reverse slowing sales, which includes an incremental $2 billion in operational and capital investments in 2026.
The retailer also promoted Purvi Shah as SVP of user experience, emphasizing that a close relationship between AI and UX will help the company "move from insight to action faster, while keeping people at the center of what we build." Both Nair and Shah will report to Prat Vemana, chief information and product officer.
How Target plans to connect AI to user experience
While the chief AI officer role carries a broad remit, Nair told the company he will focus on a concrete use case: how AI can bolster user experience. The pairing gives Target's technology strategy a shape that starts with outcomes, not tools.
"That requires what I call radical collaboration," Shah said in an interview. "We need product, technology, data and business teams sitting side by side with UX and the people we serve, learning and co-creating together from the beginning."
Rather than measuring success by models or benchmarks, Nair said the company will take a frontline approach. "As AI reshapes retail, its true impact won't ultimately be measured by models, benchmarks, or the sophistication of the technology," Nair said in a post on LinkedIn. "It will be measured on the frontlines. In how we make experiences better for guests. How we empower team members. How we simplify work."
The leadership experience behind the role
Nair brings years of experience blending product and technology roles at Lowe's, Staples and Gap. His appointment continues a broader trend of combined product and technology positions moving into the C-suite, mirroring Vemana's own promotion to chief information and product officer last year. Companies that combine product and technology leadership can achieve "tighter alignment between the technology that goes into the product and what customers want," Martha Heller, CEO at Heller Search Associates, previously told CIO Dive.
Target's strategic shift appears to be paying off. During Q1 2026 earnings in May, the company reported net sales up 6.7% year over year to $25.4 billion.
Why this matters for executives and strategy
Target's pairing of AI leadership with user experience offers a playbook for executives struggling to measure AI ROI. Rather than chasing productivity gains by layering AI onto existing applications, Nair's approach at Target will collate product, technology and business teams around specific outcomes. For leaders responsible for AI for Executives & Strategy, the key takeaway is straightforward: invest in a chief AI officer who doesn't just understand models, but understands how stores and customers actually work.
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