Release Date: Friday, August 16, 2002

HOME DEPOT CEO BOB NARDELLI REAFFIRMS GOAL OF BECOMING $100 BILLION COMPANY BY 2007 DESPITE "UNPRECEDENTED, UNCHARTED, TURBULENT TIMES"

ATLANTA, Ga. — "Unprecedented, uncharted, turbulent times" have not scuttled Home Depot's pre-September 11 goal of expanding its home improvement store chain to become a $100 billion company by 2007, CEO Robert Nardelli said this week.

"We are passionate about growth," said Nardelli, speaking August 15 to a group of Terry College of Business alumni and guests at the University of Georgia's Atlanta Alumni Center.

Despite unforeseen obstacles ranging from a lagging economy to terrorist attacks to the West Nile virus, Nardelli said the company is still on track to meet that goal.

"We open a new store every 43 hours," he said. According to the company's website, there are currently 1,441 Home Depot stores, including EXPO Design Centers and one Floor Store in the United States, plus seven stores in Puerto Rico.

Nor is the growth confined to the United States, Nardelli said. In 2001, Home Depot went from having no stores in Mexico to becoming the country's second-largest home improvement retailer in just eight months.

"We're moving from the border all the way south," he said. "This demonstrates the portability of our business model." Likewise, in Canada, Home Depot has grown to include 83 stores in seven provinces.

Nardelli succeeded outgoing Home Depot co-founder Arthur Blank as CEO and president in December 2000, then assumed the additional responsibility of chairman of the board from another of Home Depot's co-founders, Bernie Marcus, in January 2002.

Making sure the leadership transition was a smooth has been one of the biggest challenges Nardelli has faced since becoming Home Depot's first new CEO since its founding in 1978.

"I had to be sensitive in the transition," he said. "It was not an easy task being the first new chairman. Bernie and Arthur cast long shadows."

With the transition complete, Nardelli is now in the midst of initiatives he said will considerably strengthen the company's position in the home improvement market. One of these moves involves reorganizing to better serve the needs of professional contractors. Nardelli said the baby boom generation that drove the home improvement trends through the 1990s are now ready to put their hammers and paintbrushes down and let someone else do the work. "The baby boomers are moving from do-it-yourself to do-it-for-me," he said.

Nardelli was the featured speaker at the Terry Third Thursday executive speaker series, held on the third Thursday of each month at the Atlanta Financial Center in Buckhead. The program is co-sponsored by UGA's Terry College of Business and the Atlanta Business Chronicle.

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