How Target’s Tech And Product Chief Is Helping Build The Retailer’s Next Chapter

Target Chief Information and Product Officer Prat Vemana is living in the future — at least, when it comes to his role at the iconic retailer.

Today, enterprises are eager to go beyond isolated AI pilots and use cases, and start to embed the technology into their operational core. That’s much harder than giving everyone access to a co-pilot, coding assistant, or another AI application. It requires rethinking roles and reimagining responsibilities from the C-Suite down.

For CIOs, this means shedding IT’s reputation as an order taker. Across industries, technology leaders are repositioning the department as a strategic partner that can help the company move faster, act smarter, and stay competitive. Increasingly, business saviness and technical prowess must go hand-in-hand.

But while other CIOs are just starting to experience this shift, it’s been Prat’s reality since he joined Target in 2022.

"What stands out about the CIPO role is how uniquely positioned it is to advance Target’s enterprise priorities. By bringing together capabilities that are often managed separately, we can connect strategy and execution much more closely,” he told CIO News. “That’s especially important right now, because one of Target’s strategic priorities is accelerating technology in ways that elevate the shopping experience for guests, strengthen our merchandising authority, and make work easier and more effective for our teams.”

At Target, Prat is tasked with figuring out how to win over customers and employees alike with seamless experiences and standout products. His team spans enterprise product, UX, analytics, data science, engineering, infrastructure, and cybersecurity. Bringing together these historically siloed functions gives Prat powerful leverage to coordinate across Target’s biggest technology bets and keep the focus on the work that matters most.

“Tech leaders today aren’t just responsible for technology — they need to drive innovation, solve problems and set the pace across the business. That’s especially true in retail, where the landscape is constantly changing and becoming more digital,” said Prat.

Prat shared with CIO News more about technology leaders becoming the backbone of organizations, how Target generates excitement for AI internally, and why it’s important to be a translator for the business.

The never-ending thrill of problem solving and possibilities

After spending his childhood on a small farm in India, technology became a path for Prat to explore the world. His journey began in high school, where he was fortunate enough to get early access to the in-demand tech of the time: desktop computers. A far cry from the personal laptops many students now own, Prat would spend all the time he could in the school computer lab, eventually putting his burgeoning expertise to the test in coding competitions.

Decades later, that passion still remains: “What drew me in, and what still keeps me energized, is the combination of problem-solving and possibility. It’s not just about building technology, it’s about how technology can create change, open doors, and shape how businesses and people move forward,” said Prat.

While he started his career as a software engineer, Prat gradually worked his way from building products and leading digital work, to thinking broadly about how technology can transform operating models and unlock growth. Now at Target, his purview exemplifies the increasing importance of the CIO.

“The role itself has changed dramatically. Today, tech is not just a support function. It’s the backbone of how a company makes decisions, serves customers, empowers teams, and moves faster than the market,” said Prat.

Grounded in human needs, tied to business outcomes

Prat came to Target armed with a diverse experience across healthcare, telecommunications, and retail. But while the end products may all look different, the common thread for Prat is a focus on delighting customers and team members  with more connected, streamlined, and personalized experiences.

“Retail brings all of those expectations together at scale. You have to stay deeply connected to what the consumer wants, while also building systems and tools that help your team move faster and make better decisions,” he said.

Even with deep experience, AI is forcing change at breakneck speeds and no leader can sit still — especially the CIO. For Prat, adaptability, curiosity, and continuous learning are more important than ever before. At Target, the goal is to make AI experimentation feel accessible for employees, and to provide opportunities for team members to showcase their latest thinking for others.

For example, at quarterly demo days, hundreds of team members present their experiments to an audience of thousands. This helps create a culture where learning is shared, progress is visible, and adoption becomes more organic, according to Prat.

“We want teams to test and move quickly, but we also want them focused on solving real problems, learning fast, iterating where needed and moving on when something isn’t creating value. That balance is important,” he said. “The technology matters, but the magic comes from teams who are bold enough to experiment and grounded enough to focus on real problems.”

But given the rapid pace of change, even the most well-trained workforce must still get comfortable operating in ambiguity. And CIOs should also act as a guide through the unknown to help the company make clear decisions about what to pursue, what to sequence, and what to say no to, he added.

“In technology right now, there’s no shortage of possibilities,” Prat said. “CIOs have to be translators who can connect technology decisions to business outcomes, bring teams together around shared goals, and move an organization from experimentation to scaled impact.”