Ted Decker
📊 CEO Reputation Score
FY2025 vs FY2024 · Source: SEC EDGAR filings- Free cash flow: $16.3B → $12.6B (−22.5% YoY) — fiscal 2025 vs fiscal 2024
- Profit (net income): $14.8B → $14.2B (−4.4% YoY) — fiscal 2025 vs fiscal 2024
🧭 Personal Philosophy & Quotes
Decker's philosophy is literally drawn as a picture inside Home Depot: the inverted pyramid, with customers at the top, associates beneath them, and the CEO at the base holding everyone up. An English major turned finance-and-merchandising lifer, he runs the world's largest home-improvement retailer by servant leadership and the founders' values wheel — while pushing a hard-nosed strategy to win the professional contractor wallet (including the ~$18bn SRS Distribution acquisition). For investors: culture as operating system, with the Pro ecosystem as the growth bet. Note: Decker has been on a temporary medical leave since August 2026 while retaining his titles (see profile).
Operating principles
- Inverted pyramid: customers first, CEO last
- Take care of associates; they'll take care of customers
- Grow the Pro wallet without breaking the culture
“There's a buzz in our stores and it's the energy of our culture coming to life. And from day one that was intentional.”— William & Mary Alumni Magazine profile, 2024
“Those two principles are really how we run the company.”— On the inverted pyramid and values wheel — Georgia Tech Scheller Dean's Speaker Series, Jan 2023
Overview
Edward 'Ted' Decker joined Home Depot in 2000 as a director of business valuation and needed 22 years and seven promotions to reach the top — through finance, strategy, merchandising (as chief merchant) and the presidency. He became CEO in March 2022 and chair that October. In August 2026 he began a temporary medical leave; he retains his titles, with day-to-day operations overseen by the office of the CEO and a return expected within months.
Education
- B.A. English — College of William & Mary (1985)
- MBA — Carnegie Mellon University, Tepper School of Business (1993)
Personal Likes & Life
- English major who 'loves numbers' — joined Carnegie Mellon's board of trustees (2023) and Colonial Williamsburg's board (2025)
- Grew up in Fairview Township, Erie County, Pennsylvania; met his wife Cathy at William & Mary
- Received a CMU-themed orange apron designed by theatre students — a small emblem of his culture-first public style
Past Experience
Finance and strategy roles, including a stint based in London — where a chance phone call set up his Home Depot interview.
Director of business valuation; rises through finance, strategy and merchandising.
EVP of merchandising, then president and COO (2020) running stores, supply chain and the Pro business.
CEO from 1 Mar 2022, chair from Oct 2022. On temporary medical leave since 12 Aug 2026 (titles retained; interim office-of-the-CEO arrangement in place).
🏆 Achievements
- Kept Home Depot the category king through the post-pandemic housing freeze — ~$160bn revenue scale with best-in-class retail execution
- Bet big on the Pro: acquired SRS Distribution (~$18.25bn, 2024) and built an ecosystem of trade-focused subsidiaries
- Culture continuity: the founders' values system survived a third CEO transition intact, with engagement and retention as stated strategy
🎙️ Interviews to Watch / Read
Carnegie Mellon — 'Getting more done is a way of life' for Home Depot's Ted Deckerhttps://www.cmu.edu/engage/news-stories/getting-more-done-way-life-home-depots-ted-decker ↗Georgia Tech Scheller — Dean's Speaker Series: Ted Decker on culture and the inverted pyramid
https://www.scheller.gatech.edu/news/2023/deans-speaker-series-ted-decker-chair-president-and-ceo-of-the-home-depot.html ↗
⚠️ Failures & Setbacks
- The housing downturn is his headwind: big-ticket discretionary projects deferred for years as rates stayed high, flattening comparable sales
- Temporary medical leave (Aug 2026) created an open-ended leadership question — no return date set, with two executives sharing his duties
- Pro-ecosystem complexity: stitching SRS, HD Supply and Construction Resources into one offer without margin dilution is an unfinished integration test