Target Hires General Mills Veteran, Walmart Exec

Target has hired General Mills veteran Liz Nordlie and former Walmart executive Mark Kenny to help grow its grocery business.Kenny fills the newly created role of divisional vice president, meat and prepared food, where he will oversee the retailer’s meat, seafood, deli, bakery and prepared food categories. He is specifically tasked with helping sharpen the mass merchant's "focus on convenient eating, saving Target guests time and money, in addition to offering a curated mix of private label and national brands in these categories," according to a media release announcing the hires. Stepping into his role later this month, Kenny will report directly to Jeff Burt, senior vp, food and beverage.Kenny previously served as senior director of private brands, deli and bakery at Walmart. Prior to Walmart, he worked in senior merchandising positions at sister chain Sam's Club and as regional vice president for Foot Locker, according to his LinkedIn page.Nordlie also joins Target later this month, taking on the newly created role of vp, product design and development for food and beverage. She will oversee the brand direction and product vision for private label food and beverage categories. She will report to Julie Guggemos, svp of product design and development.Most recently, Nordlie served as president of General Mills’ baking division. She spent a total of 20 years with the manufacturer in general management roles, building brands across cereal, snacks, meals, natural and organics, yogurt and baking core businesses.The two new hires come five months after Burt joined the mass merchant to lead the grocery business after a 30-year career with Kroger. Target has struggled with its food and beverage business due to issues including declining foot traffic and perishable losses estimated to be higher than the industry average. Adding to Target's woes, Anne Dament also stepped down last year as the retailer's svp of merchandising after only a short 18-month turn at the helm.“We have been making positive progress with our assortment, presentation and operations in food and beverage this year," Mark Tritton, Target's executive vp and chief merchandising officer, said in the release. "With Jeff Burt’s leadership, and the investment we’re making to bring on two new seasoned executives, combined with our already talented team, I’m confident we’ll be able to go even further, faster, delivering both an experience and assortment that’s uniquely Target.”

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