Home Depot execs settle into roles

It’s been a month since the announcement of Hal Lawton’s move from Home Depot to eBay, where he will head up eBay North America.

Back in Atlanta, Lawton’s departure – he had been senior VP of merchandising since 2013 – sparked a series of executive moves as the Atlanta-based retail giant replaced from within its own ranks, for the most part.

"We have a deep bench of talent, so we have the ability to shift if and when someone makes a change, as we did with Hal.”

Settling into new roles are Jeanine Huebner, who with 15 years of experience at Black & Decker, was promoted to SVP merchandising, hardlines.

Huebner’s promotion opened room for moves for Jim Hovis, and Billy Basteck, now handling outdoors and tools, respectively.

Home Depot also brought in Adolfo Villagomez as merchandising VP in building materials. Villagomez brings McKinsey brings experience from McKinsey Company and DuPont.

“We have a deep bench of talent, so we have the ability to shift if and when someone makes a change, as we did with Hal,” said Steve Holmes, a spokesman for Home Depot. “We’re excited for Hal, and frankly think his move underscores the outstanding level of talent we have in our organization.”

Indeed, the idea of a Silicon Valley giant like eBay turning to the ranks of home improvement for a 21st century leader could change the way the hardware and building supply industry views itself.

Lawton served assenior VP of merchandisingsince 2013. Before that, he was SVP and president of the online business, VP of merchandising finance and director of corporate strategy.

About the move to eBay, Lawton offered the following statement: “eBay has been a leading innovator in the world of commerce for almost 20 years, and I am excited to be joining the team. The Marketplace connects buyers and sellers globally, creating economic opportunity and powering entrepreneurs, and I am thrilled to be a part of leading that community forward.”

One observer and former Home Depot executive said the move probably doesn’t signal a new direction for Home Depot – just a regular shift in responsibility that results from the tradition of promoting from within.

“Hal is getting a really amazing opportunity at eBay,” said Winston Ledet, president of Premium Retail Solutions and former director of corporate strategy for The Home Depot. “He’s getting a chance in Silicon Valley with a brand new team.”

According to Ledet, Lawton earned particular respect for his handling of HomeDepot.com’s e-commerce business. Not only did he lead sales growth – from about $400 million to about $1.9 billion -- Lawton was able to guide the business from a defensive mindset to an offensive mindset.

“He really hit a home run there and just grew it tremendously,” Ledet said.

“The idea at Home depot.com was, ‘let’s not let Amazon.com do to us what they did to Circuit City.’ He was able to change the way they view e-commerce from something they felt they had to do, to something that they really want to do, and do well, and an area where they want to invest.”