Target Corp. on Tuesday announced it has hired Jeff England, who worked 18 years at Walmart, to be its chief global supply chain and logistics officer, effective May 31.
The nation’s eighth largest retailer said continuing to build its supply chain capabilities is instrumental for the next phase of growth. Retailers increasingly recognize that supply chain strategy ties to revenue growth, customer loyalty, and the in-store experience, especially as they work to avoid stock outs, improve fulfillment speed, and operate more efficiently amid a turbulent economic and geopolitical environment.
“Guests come to Target for great style, design and value — and they trust we’ll be in stock and ready for them every time they shop,” said CEO Michael Fiddelke, in a news release. “Elevating that guest experience is one of our top priorities, and Jeff’s deep expertise across operations, engineering, technology and automation, along with a strong track record of leading operations of various sizes and complexities, is exactly what will be required to strengthen how we deliver for our guests.”
England joins Minneapolis-based Target (NYSE: TGT) from building products distributor QXO, where he served as chief supply chain officer under former XPO logistics chief Brad Jacobs. and is credited with improving inventory availability, reduced transportation costs and strengthening operational performance. From February 2022 to August 2024, he was chief supply chain officer at Genuine Parts Co.
England spent more than 18 years at Walmart in a variety of operations, strategy and finance roles, culminating as senior vice president supply chain.
Target’s current chief supply chain and logistics officer, Gretchen McCarthy, will stay on through August as a strategic advisor.
“Gretchen has made many meaningful contributions to Target during her long career at the company,” said Fiddelke. “She set up our operations, capabilities and team to be ready for this next phase, and I’m grateful for her leadership.”
Target recently opened a 1.2 million square-foot staging facility in Houston that supports six regional distribution centers, acting as a buffer between import warehouses and store-level fulfillment. It is located between its two main import distribution centers in Georgia and Washington state with the aim of better managing seasonal flow to local stores.
Under McCarthy, Target has also ramped up its next-day delivery capability from stores.
In a Q&A blog post on Target’s website, England described technology implementation as one of his priorities.
We need to modernize how we plan, move, and deliver products, and we need the right systems in place that enable consistent and repeatable performance. “With so many decisions and actions happening every hour across a supply chain of this size, AI and automation can speed up manual and repetitive tasks so the team can spend more time on other meaningful work. Technology won’t change our plans, just enhance them — and improve our team members’ experience at the same time,” he said.
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Write to Eric Kulisch at ekulisch@freightwaves.com.
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