Five months after the embarrassing and expensive security breach at Target, the retailer’s chief executive is gone. So is its chief information officer. The next to go could be the board members who should have recognized the potential threats to the company’s data, according to Institutional Shareholder Services. The advisory firm says seven of the 10 executives on Target’s board should be voted out at the annual meeting June 11.
“The data breach revealed that the company was inadequately prepared for the significant risks of doing business in today’s electronic-commerce environment,” ISS noted in a report issued Wednesday. Target disagrees. Even so, the board “is re-examining the entire risk oversight structure, including senior management roles and reporting structures, as well as board oversight,” in the wake of the breach, Eric Hausman, a Target spokesperson, told Bloomberg News. The company also announced that it was forming a digital advisory council.
Some of the directors ISS believes should leave do have experience with data security and technology more generally. The former chief operating officer of Yahoo!, Henrique De Castro, is one. Roxanne Austin, an investment advisor who was once president of an Internet television services provider, is another. And how about Anne Mulcahy? She was chief executive officer of Xerox. They, as well as each of the other directors, will earn $260,000 this year.
