Lowes

Bernie Marcus was born in Newark, New Jersey, in 1929. He began his professional career as a pharmacist, eventually owning his own drug store. Then, he transitioned from his ownership position to corporate employee by becoming CEO of Handy Dan, one of the first major home improvement retailers, which would later go out of business in 1989. During his time as CEO of Handy Dan, Marcus hired Arthur Blank who would become his CFO. Serving as co-founder and CEO of Home Depot in its early, developmental years, Marcus helped lead The Home Depot through its first major rounds of expansion. Marcus’s leadership style created a uniquely decentralized, entrepreneurial, and employee/customer-centric environment. He refused to pay employees on commission basis because he wanted employees to focus on teaching customers and solving problems. Also, he was a proponent of a non-elitist management style. He established an employee stock-purchase program which gave all workers the opportunity to be shareholders in the company. Marcus maintained the mission “to serve customers first and foremost”, while also fostering a family atmosphere in which loyal employees worked hard because they were given financial and career opportunities. In May 1997, Bernie Marcus stepped down as CEO, and his partner and co-founder Arthur Blank took over.

Arthur Blank was raised in Queens, New York. He studied accounting at Babson College and worked for the Arthur Young firm. Later, Blank was hired by Bernie Marcus, and ultimately became CFO of Handy Dan until they were dismissed in 1978. During the early stages of The Home Depot’s growth, Marcus and Blank fostered its distinctive “bleeding orange culture”. After Marcus stepped down in 1997, Blank took over as CEO and immediately began implementing new growth initiatives. Blank proposed a new, smaller neighborhood-store concept to compete with True Value and Ace Hardware. Also, he accelerated international expansion into Chile and Argentina. He established new branches to handle Direct Mail and telephone orders, while also creating Proinitiative, a professional builder’s market segment.