Arthur M. Blank and the Home Depot

Arthur M Blank has been listed in Forbes America's Most Powerful People. Mr. Blank has been Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer of the Atlanta Falcons since February 2002. Mr. Blank has also been Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of AMB Group, since February 2001 and Chairman of The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation since it was founded in 1995. Mr. Blank is a co-founder of The Home Depot, Inc., served as its Co-Chairman of the Board of Directors from December 2000 until his retirement in May 2001 and was a Director of Home Depot from 1978 until

May 2001. Mr. Blank served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Home Depot from 1997 to May 2000 and as its President and Chief Operating Officer from 1978 to 1997.

Arthur Blank was born in Queens3, New York in 1942 and with his parents and brother shared a series of one-bedroom apartments. He received an ac-counting degree from Babson College in Wellesley4, Massachusetts and worked as an accountant before joining the small pharmaceutical5 firm started by his father. When the company Cartier Replica was bought by Daylin, Inc. , Blank became an executive6 at a Daylin drugstore unit. He then moved over to the Handy Dan Improvement Centers, a division of Daylin, where he met Bernard Marcus.

In 1978, Arthur Blank and Bernard Marcus were fired by a corporate raider from the Handy Dan chain. They opened their first three stores in Atlanta in 1979, employing 200 associates7 with $7 million in sales. They lost nearly $ 1 million. In 1980, the stores were profitable and the company went public in 1981. By the end of 1998, Home Depot had grown to 761 stores, employing 157,000 associates with $30. 2 billion in sales. Home Depot was named Fortune magazine's Most Admired Retailer for 5 consecutive8 years.

Home Depot stores brought innovations to the marketplace that include 1 ) warehouse sized stores with large inventories9, averaging10 35,000 items per store; 2) low prices, as much as 40% lower than other retailers; and 3) exeptional customer service provided by skilled professionals. Home Depot requires that its new employees undergo comprehensive" training to insure that hey can provide customers with knowledgeable service.

Home Depot has created 157,000 high quality jobs. They do not hire anyone it minimum wage in order to insure that they get the very best employees who eel a deep sense of company loyalty. "Home Depot offers stock options to all employees.

Home Depot is beginning to bring its unique blend of customer service, low winces and large inventory to the global marketplace. They have begun opera-ions in Chile and Puerto Rico. 3 Chef 1999 philanthropic budget for Home Deport is more than $15 million. The funds are directed right back to the communities the company serves, focusing on affordable housing, at-risk youth and the environment. Team Depot, an organized Cartier Santos Replica olunteer force, was started in 1992 to allow their associates to contribute16 to the communities were they live. Home Depot has the President’s National Community Service Award, the President's Sustainable Development Award, and the Point of Light Foundation's Award for Excellence in Corporate Community Service.