The Home Depot Inc. is an American home improvement supplies trading organization that specializes in selling tools, construction merchandises, and services. The Home Depot is the leading home improvement retailer in the country, and its headquarters are in Cobb County, Georgia. The company’s retail stores have a signature big-box format, and they have stores across the country in fifty states and other stores outside the country in Mexico, Canada, Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. The Home Depot Inc. also owns the MRO company Interline Brands which has a total of seventy distribution hubs across the country.
The current Chief Executive Officer of Home Depot is Craig Menear, and he has held the office since November 2014. He started working for Home Depot in 1997 and in 2007 he was appointed as the executive vice president of Merchandising. Menear also became the company’s chairman of the board in 2nd February 2015. Before taking up the position of Chief Executive Officer, Menear had worked for the company for more than twenty years and had held positions in supply chain, merchandising, marketing, store operations, sourcing and online. Craig Menear is the President and Director of Home Depot U.S.A, Inc. He has also been an Associate of Home Depot for sixteen years and acted as the President of U.S Retail from February 2014 to October 2014. Craig is a retail veteran who is recognized for his leadership role in motivating innovation throughout the organization’s product mix, overseeing a swiftly expanding online business and re-engineering the organization’s supply chain. He is renowned for his ‘do-it-yourself’ roots, keenness to innovation and pledge to the organization’s culture. Since becoming the Chief Executive Officer of Home Depot, the company has some of the best records when it comes to the stock market. His knowledge of reforming the organization for definitive profitability has propelled the company’s expectations and continue to do so. Craig Menear has also been able to keep the company’s central task of keeping it a customer-centered organization whilst keeping up with the swiftly advancing technology that we have experienced in the last decade. His achievements have been evident since he took over office as CEO not only through the exceptional stock records but as the overall company operations and evolvement.
Craig Menear roles include supporting motivation of employees in the company’s programs and operations, promoting any changes to the company or stakeholders that are related to the company’s mission, to ensure staff and Board members have sufficient and up-to-date information regarding the organization and looks into the future to tap into any opportunities that could benefit the company as well as customers. Mr. Menear is also the interface between the Board and the employees as well as the interface between the company and the community. His role as a decision-maker include formulating policies and plans recommendations and presenting them to the board and deciding or guiding the courses of actions that staff members can take to see them through. In addition, his role as a manager of the organization includes implementing plans and policies, overseeing the operations of the company, managing the human resources of the company and managing the financial and physical resources of the organization. He is also responsible for overseeing design, marketing, promotion, delivery of quality products and services that reflect the core values of Home Depot. In addition, he is responsible for overseeing the company’s charitable non-profit foundation that the company established in 2002. It also partners with other philanthropic organizations to give back to the community. Craig Menear is mandated with several roles as the Board developer where he assists in the selection and evaluation of board members. He also makes recommendations and offers support to the Board when there is orientation as well as self-evaluation.
The Board of Directors of Home Depot is made up of thirteen members, and twelve of them are independent directors. The current members are Graig Menear who is the Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, President and Director, Mark Vadon, Wayne Hewett, Helena Foulkes, Stephanie Linnartz, Gerard Arpey, Ari Bousbib, Jeffery Boyd, Gregory Brenneman, Frank Brown, Albert Carey, Armando Codina and Linda Gooden (The Home Depot, 2014).
The Board of Directors’ mission statement is “Committed to maximizing long-term shareholder value while supporting management in the business and operations of the Company, observing the highest ethical standards and adhering to the laws of the jurisdictions within the Company operates.” The primary responsibilities of the board of directors include exercising its professional ruling to act in what it equitably trusts to be the best interests of the organization and its shareholders. Their primary purpose also includes ensuring the organization's success by mutually directing the organization’s affairs, while meeting the appropriate interests of its stakeholders and shareholders. In carrying out its functions, the Board of Directors picks the organization’s management, acts as an advisor to the management as well as supervises the performance of management. It is the responsibility of the management to run the day-to-day operations of the organization. The Board is mandated to, from time to time review the business’s long-term strategic plan, capital projects, business initiates and budget matters. The Board also allows the management to speak for the organization in any dealings with a third party. In addition to dealing with business and financial issues of the organization, the board of directors must deal with issues and challenges concerning corporate governance, corporate ethics, and corporate social responsibility.
The Board holds four regular special meetings each year, and they are considered necessary. All directors are normally expected to attend all Board meetings as well as meetings of the Committees of the Board on which they serve. During these meetings, the directors discharge their duty to control the organization’s general situation, plan and policy, and to supervise the implementation of any delegated power. Individual directors are also expected to report on their specific areas of responsibility. They are also expected to attend the annual general meeting of shareholders and are only allowed to be present under extraordinary circumstances.
The chair of these meetings is Craig Menear, and his responsibilities during these meetings include ensuring they are conducted in such a manner that the purpose for which it was organized is properly attended to. He is also mandated with ensuring that those entitled to express their views, do so and that the decisions arrived upon during the meeting reflect on the views and opinions of meeting as a whole. The agendas of the meetings are also often decided upon by the chair, and he is also likely to sign off the minutes.