Nardelli to guide cannabis company

A familiar name in home improvement has thrown his management experience into the blooming cannabis and hydroponics trade. The name is Bob Nardelli, the former CEO of Home Depot.

GrowGeneration, the retail chain of hydroponic and organic gardening products hired Nardelli as a senior strategic advisor.


"Bob is a globally recognized business visionary,” said Darren Lampert, CEO of Grow Generation. “He comes with a strong track record of executive operations to generate accelerated, profitable growth and shareholder value across many industry verticals that are of great interest to us.”

GrowGeneration’ stated mission is to own and operate its branded stores in all the major legalized cannabis states in the United States and Canada. Currently, GrowGeneration has 23 stores -- five are in Colorado and five in California.

The company estimates that roughly 1,000 hydroponic stores are in operation in the U.S. By 2020 the market is estimated to reach over $23 billion with a compound annual growth rate of 32%.

Nardelli’s role will be to explore potential partnerships. He’ll also provide advice on matters relating to supply chain, merchandise, branding, distribution, new product introductions, pricing and channel selection, the company said.

"I believe GrowGeneration has a solid execution track record, is strongly differentiated from its peers, has achieved scale throughout the supply chain of the hydroponic industry, and is poised to go to the next level,” Nardelli said in the announcement.

Nardelli left The Home Depot in January of 2007. He was replaced by Frank Blake.