Target hires Grant McGee as chief legal and compliance officer

Target’s decision to bring in Grant McGee as executive vice president and chief legal and compliance officer on May 31 says as much about operating discipline as it does about the legal department. The retailer is trying to push into a new growth chapter, backed by an incremental $2 billion in 2026 investment, including more than $1 billion in additional capital expenditures and $1 billion in additional operating investments.

That kind of expansion changes the daily work of stores. Target said its 2026 strategy centers on merchandising, guest experience, technology and team development, and it has also said it will increase payroll and training while transforming in-store floor plans, strengthening assortment and accelerating technology, including AI. When a chain adds that much complexity, legal and compliance leadership stops being a back-office title and becomes part of how stores, vendors and managers actually function.

McGee arrives with the kind of resume retailers usually want when they are tightening the machine. Kimberly-Clark says he led legal, public policy, government affairs, compliance, security and flight operations there, while serving as the primary legal adviser to the board and executive leadership team. Reported biographies say he has about 20 years of legal experience and previously worked at American Airlines.

For workers, that profile matters because legal and compliance teams shape the rules that reach the floor. They influence how handbooks are written, how training is rolled out, how employee complaints are investigated, how vendor contracts are reviewed, how product claims are handled and how safety or privacy problems move up the chain. The bigger and faster a retailer grows, the more these questions decide whether store teams get clear guidance or confusing patches.

That is the part Big Lots workers should notice. Big Lots filed voluntary Chapter 11 petitions on Sept. 9, 2024, in Delaware, and Kroll says the cases were converted to Chapter 7 effective Nov. 10, 2025, with Alfred T. Giuliano appointed trustee. One restructuring report said the sale closed on Jan. 3, 2025 and only a partial going-concern continuation path remained under Variety Wholesalers. Public reporting on that process also described substantial layoffs and WARN notices across multiple states.

Big Lots’ collapse is a hard lesson in what happens when operating pressure outruns clear decision-making. Target’s hire shows the opposite instinct: when a retailer expects more complexity, it builds legal and compliance power early. For store employees, that can mean sharper policy, faster escalation and fewer improvisations when the company starts changing how it works.