People of the Year: Ted Decker

The second annual HBSDealer People of the Year list includes some heavy hitters in the home improvement industry. These are executives who have displayed outside-the-box thinking, along with stick-to-your-guns discipline. They are the leaders of billion-dollar corporations, as well as family businesses. They are guiding huge mergers, and huge acts of charity.

In the next several issues of the HBSDealer Daily, we'll meet all of HBSDealer's People of the Year. 

Since his promotion to Home Depot’s executive VP merchandising last summer, Ted Decker has been at the helm of a long victory stretch with no clear end in sight. (For instance, here’s an interesting stat: In the most recent quarter, all of the company’s merchandising departments posted positive comps.)

Decker’s 15-year run with the retail giant has seen him play a key role in its merchandising transformation, but 2015 in particular had its standout moments. Home Depot rolled out a new Color Solutions Center using consumer insights data to create a next-level shopping experience for customers. Decker also shepherded in new assortments using data from the online channel. He presided over a commendable first-quarter performance in which the Western division’s garden departments posted above-average comps in spite of the California drought, or perhaps because of it: Water-saving products and succulents were out in full force, and Home Depot’s California stores held educational clinics on water usage reduction.