Edward (Ted) Decker (MSIA 1993, T)
Ted Decker has led an illustrious, varied, and international career on his way to becoming chair, president, and CEO of The Home Depot, the world’s largest home improvement retailer with more than 2,300 stores and half a million employees.
Decker was named CEO and chair in 2022 after becoming president and chief operating officer in 2020. In his more than 20 years with the company his roles included SVP, VP business development, and director of business valuation. He is credited with successfully steering the company through the historic supply-chain difficulties caused by the pandemic to achieve one of its best growth years.
Previously, Decker held various positions at Kimberly-Clark Corp, Scott Paper Co. and PNC Bank with time spent internationally in England and Australia.
"As a finance major in particular, you were studying finance at ground zero of the school that invented the developed modern finance theory and that gave me just such great confidence, not only while in school but also as I went into corporate finance and M&A."
Decker also added, “My classmates are such a wonderful group of talented people that are doing so many things all over the world in different types of industry, all successful."
Raised in Erie, PA, Decker received his bachelors in English from William and Mary in 1985 and earned his master’s from the Tepper School of Business in 1993. A passionate alumnus, he serves on the Carnegie Mellon University Board of Trustees, has been active as a Tepper School speaker and recruiter, and hosted numerous receptions for the school community.
Among his awards, he was honored with the 2023 Tepper Alumni Achievement Award.
“I believe this in every fiber of my being that Pittsburgh is just an incredibly unique place, Carnegie Mellon is an incredibly unique school, and the Tepper School is an incredibly unique business school and I know leveraging each of those three has really been the defining difference of what I’ve been able to accomplish. I am just so blessed to have been part of all three and have my friends and fellow classmates."