Target hires first Chief AI Officer as Sonata Software names its own AI chief

TGT has appointed Chandhu Nair as senior vice president and its first chief artificial intelligence officer, with the role taking effect August 24, 2026 . Nair joins from Lowe's, where he spent more than six years, most recently as senior vice president of stores, data, AI and innovation; his background also includes leadership roles at Staples and Infosys and the co-founding of computer-vision software firm Cognitive Retail and consultancy Merkatus Partners .

The mandate is coordination rather than greenfield build. Target's stated plan is to unify AI work that already exists across merchandising, supply chain and the store experience under a single owner, and Nair's first priority is listening sessions with store teams and supply-chain partners before committing to major technical initiatives . Hiring a retail operator with a stores-and-data background, rather than a research-side AI executive, signals the emphasis is on deployment inside existing operations.

Separately, Indian technology services firm Sonata Software named Hariprasad Rebala to its own newly created chief AI officer role. The two announcements sit on opposite sides of the same market: a retailer building internal capability, and a services vendor organizing to sell that capability to clients.

The economically meaningful test for Target is whether centralized AI ownership shows up in inventory accuracy, markdown rates and forecast error, since those are the levers where retail AI has historically produced measurable margin rather than pilot programs. Investors should look for specifics in upcoming quarters on which initiatives are in production and what they cost, rather than treating the appointment itself as a catalyst.

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