Home Depot CEO adds on chairman role

Home Depot’s CEO Craig Menear will take over as chairman of the board when Frank Blake retires Feb. 2.

Menear, formerly head of Home Depot’s retail operations, was named Blake’s successor as CEO in August, and the company said at the time that Blake would remain as chairman. Menear took over the CEO role at the beginning of November.

"On behalf of the board of directors, I once again want to thank Frank for his outstanding leadership and dedication to our customers, associates and shareholders," said Greg Brenneman, lead director. "We're fortunate to have another great leader in Craig Menear and look forward to working closely with him moving forward."

The move comes as the home-improvement retailer deals with the fallout from a widespread data breach last year while it enjoys strong results on the back of the U.S. housing recovery. Days after Menear took over as CEO, the company said about 53 million customers’ emails were stolen in a hacker attack that also compromised an additional 56 million customer credit-card accounts. The company had disclosed the credit-card breach in September.

Menear said in November, when Home Depot reported quarterly results, that it was hard for the company to discern any impact from the data breach on sales. Menear has also indicated that he would continue to follow Home Depot’s recent course, as it seeks better productivity and efficiency at its existing locations in addition to e-commerce growth.

Home Depot operates 2,269 retail stores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, 10 Canadian provinces and Mexico. In fiscal 2013, The Home Depot had sales of $78.8 billion and earnings of $5.4 billion.