Home Depot’s chief executive, Ted Decker, is temporarily stepping away from his role for medical reasons, the company said on Wednesday.
Mr. Decker is expected to return in a few months, and two executives have been appointed to do Mr. Decker’s job in the interim.
Ann-Marie Campbell, senior executive vice president, will run day-to-day operations, and Richard McPhail, executive vice president and chief financial officer, will run the company’s financial management, Home Depot said.
“We are confident in Ann-Marie’s and Richard’s ability to lead the company during this time, and we look forward to Ted’s return,” Greg Brenneman, a board member who will assume Mr. Decker’s role as chair for the next few months, said in the company’s announcement.
Under the leadership of Mr. Decker, who joined Home Depot in 2000 and was named chief executive in 2022, the company expanded its professional and contractor services as it invested in more distribution centers and opened new stores. In January, the company laid off hundreds of employees and mandated a return to office.
The company declined to give more details about Mr. Decker’s medical leave.
News of the temporary change in leadership came a week ahead of Home Depot’s quarterly earnings announcement. The company’s first-quarter report for this year showed nearly flat sales and lower net earnings compared with last year.
In a call with analysts in February, Mr. Decker blamed housing affordability concerns and broader uncertainty in the U.S. economy as reasons homeowners had put their home remodeling projects on pause.
The economic landscape since the company’s last earnings report has not improved much. The average rate for a 30-year mortgage, the most common home loan in the United States, was 6.7 percent as of Thursday. And inflation remains elevated as the war with Iran drags on.
In the longer term, home improvement retailers like Home Depot could face risks to profit margins if customer demand doesn’t improve, analysts from Bank of America said in a research note on Monday.
