Throwback Thursday: Home Depot's new crew
The Dec. 16, 2002 issue of Home Channel News, the forerunner of Hardware & Building Supply Dealer, featured a special report on The Home Depot.
Twenty years ago today, Bob Nardelli was two years into his seven-year run at the world's largest home improvement retailer. And the 2002 special report included mini profiles of some of the executives that made up a big part of his executive team.
This edition of Throwback Thursday asks: “Where are they now?”
• Bob DeRodes
Then: Executive vice president of information technology
Current: Founder and President at DeRodes Enterprises, LLC, an information technology and business operations advisory firm. He’s also a public speaker and author.
• Troy Rice
Then: Senior vice president of operations
Current: CEO at Total Wine and More, described as the country’s largest independent retailer of fine wine.
• Kim McKesson
Then: Vice president of kitchen, bath and appliances
Current: Head of North America at Spencer Stuart, a firm that offers executive search, board services and leadership consulting.
• Jim Stoddart
Then: President, Home Depot Supply
Current: After moving into the role of senior vice president of new growth businesses at Home Depot from 2005-2007, Stoddart is now owner at Stoddart’s Ltd. Company.
• Carol Tome
Then: Executive vice president and CFO
Current: She left Home Depot to take the CEO role at UPS in 2020.
The 2002 cover story—“New Blood: Home Depot's new crew of executives say they, too, bleed orange”—also included a list of executives who had recently departed the company in those early years after Nardelli took the helm at Home Depot in December 2000.
Twenty years ago under the headline “Exit, Stage Right,” we reported:
"Analysts, investors and other industry watchers didn't blink an eye when Nardelli revamped the retailer's operations and management team in his first year. Change is necessary—even critical—for growth, they said.
“But then the changes kept coming and company veterans kept leaving. That prompted a stinging backlash from analysts who claimed Nardelli was making too many management changes, and investors (many of which are employees) who claimed the retailer had lost its much beloved entrepreneurial spirit.”
Nardelli's well-documented career took him from Home Depot to Chrysler, to Cerberus Capital Management to his current role as the operator of the investment and advisory firm XLR-8 LLC.
Among the departing executives listed in the article was Suzanne Apple, vice president of community affairs. She went on to a 13-year career with the World Wildlife Fund and is currently associate director and board member of the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation. She has held that position for nearly seven years.
# # #
Have you seen home improvement history? Share it with us at [email protected].
