Cornell, 55, will replace Gregg Steinhafel, who quit three months ago after a series of problems at the retailer, culminating in a disastrous breach of data security around Thanksgiving last year which wrecked its holiday season sales. Chief financial officer John Mulligan has been acting CEO since then.

A management problem has overshadowed Target’s stock all year. The company’s shares have fallen 3.3% while the S&P 500 has gained 7.4%.

Cornell has had two spells at PepsiCo and is currently head of its Americas Foods business, but also spent three years at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (fortune-stock symbol=”WMT”], where he was head of the Sam’s Club chain of warehouses.

Cornell wowed his new troops with handshakes and selfies Thursday morning, Fortune’s Jennifer Reingold reports. But the well-regarded former Pepsi executive faces substantial challenges at the helm of Target, the Journal said, such as deciding whether or not to pursue a so-far unsuccessful expansion into Canada, beefing up its e-commerce performance and generally streamlining a decision-making process that had gotten too slow and cumbersome under Steinhafel.

An open question is whether the appointment of the former Wal-Mart man signals a change in Target’s approach to its product ranges and the presentation of its stores.