Kohl’s CEO fired for steering business to a person with whom he had a relationship, retailer says

Kohl’s CEO Ashley Buchanan was fired this week because he had an undisclosed personal relationship with a vendor on a consulting team that made a multimillion-dollar deal with the retailer at his direction, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Buchanan had only been in the role since January.

An investigation by an outside law firm found Buchanan had violated company policies by directing the company to enter into “vendor transactions that involved undisclosed conflicts of interest,” the department store said.

The Kohl’s board of directors terminated Buchanan for cause, the company said, and appointed board director Michael Bender as the interim CEO.

Kohl’s said Buchanan’s firing was unrelated to the company’s performance and did not involve any other employees. Buchanan previously held the same position at the crafts retailer Michaels since 2020. He became Kohl’s chief executive in January.

Kohl’s said Wednesday in a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that the investigation found Buchanan had directed the company to “conduct business with a vendor founded by an individual with whom Mr. Buchanan has a personal relationship on highly unusual terms favorable to the vendor.”

The filing said the unnamed person was also part of a consulting team that had entered into a multimillion-dollar agreement with Kohl’s under Buchanan’s direction.

The regulatory filing said Buchanan did not disclose the relationship as required under company policy, and he will have to forfeit all equity awards and bonuses he received from Kohl’s when he was hired. He also will have to reimburse the company on a pro-rated basis for a $2.5 million signing bonus.

Kohl’s did not disclose who the consulting agreement was with, but The Wall Street Journal, which was first to report Buchanan had been fired, said it was Boston Consulting Group, where Buchanan’s romantic partner, Chandra Holt, was an adviser. The Journal report cited unnamed people familiar with the matter.

Buchanan and Holt did not immediately reply to requests for comment made by phone and email.

Boston Consulting Group said in a statement to NBC News that it was “shocked to learn of the relationship between” Holt and Buchanan.

“We have strict guidelines for our senior advisors to disclose any conflicts of interest,” Boston Consulting said, adding it had terminated Holt’s contract for nondisclosure. 

The Boston Consulting Group said Holt is a recognized industry expert who worked for the group on a part time basis and was paid by the hour.

“She was not involved in structuring the project or negotiating any contract terms and was not expected to lead any part of the project,” the group said.