John Stumpf, the former chief executive of Wells Fargo, has stepped down from the board of Minneapolis-based Target Corp.
The retailer filed a one-line notification with the Securities & Exchange Commission on Tuesday saying that Stumpf told the company the day before that he resigned from the board of directors "effective immediately."
He also resigned on Monday from the board of California-based Chevron Corp. "for personal reasons," according to a public filing.
Stumpf, a Minnesota native, relinquished his role as CEO of the nation's second-largest bank last week amid a scandal over sales practices in which employees, under pressure to meet aggressive sales targets, opened bank and credit card accounts without customer authorization.
As the controversy picked up steam, some of Target's shareholders pushed the company to pressure Stumpf to leave the board. One longtime shareholder, Aaron Epstein, took out an ad in the Star Tribune urging Target to do so.
"Thousands of Wells Fargo depositors and workers have suffered devastating emotional and financial harm because of their bank's fraudulent activity," he wrote. "Mr. Stumpf may or may not have known of the frauds, but as CEO he should have known."
Stumpf had served on Target's board since 2010 and served most recently on two committees — nominating and governance as well as risk and compliance.
"We thank him for his contributions and wish him well," said Dustee Jenkins, a Target spokeswoman.
Stumpf's resignation is the latest of several changes to the makeup of Target's board in the last year or so. The retailer has added several new members, increasing it to 14 people before Stumpf stepped down.
The newest members include Monica Lozano, former CEO of Latino-focused media company ImpreMedia; Melanie Healey, a former Procter & Gamble executive; Donald Knauss, former CEO of Clorox; and Robert Edwards, former CEO of Safeway.
Other board directors include Ken Salazar, former U.S. secretary of the interior; Anne Mulcahy, former chief executive of Xerox; Roxanne Austin, a former media executive; and Douglas Baker, CEO of Ecolab.
One of the more controversial members of the Target board, James Johnson, the former CEO of Fannie Mae, retired last year after reaching the board's mandatory retirement age of 72.
Kavita Kumar • 612-673-4113
