Target has made significant progress this year, using its exceptional cross-cultural mentoring program to further talent development, especially of people from traditionally underrepresented groups. The retailer holds its senior executives accountable for those results, with 10 percent of their bonuses tied to diversity goals, exceeding the industry average.

The 11-member board of directors is also diverse, with four women, two Black people and one Latino person.

Target has a large and passionate staff in its diversity department, a group of people determined to connect diversity to the company’s efforts to increase market share, especially with multicultural communities.

The heart of Target’s current efforts is its mentoring program, in which 90 percent of its managers participate, including the top three levels of the company. The company’s programs include group mentoring, one-to-one mentoring, virtual mentoring, peer mentoring and reverse mentoring. Both mentors and mentees have cross-cultural training, and there are measurable goals to assess progress.

Target also has a solid supplier-diversity program that includes strong relationships with certifying agencies, ethical auditing of vendors to ensure they qualify, and a Tier II (subcontractor) component.

Target helps its suppliers understand what they need to learn and do to successfully do business with the retailer. The company also offers them mentoring and financial education.

U.S. Headquarters: Minneapolis

Global Employees: 355,000

U.S. Employees: 282,423

Last Year’s DiversityInc Top 50 Ranking: No. 44