Two Directors of Home Depot Will Not Seek Re-election on Home Services

Dec

Two Directors of Home Depot Will Not Seek Re-election

posted by admin in Home Depot

Home Depot disclosed yesterday that two members of its board, Thomas J. Ridge, the former secretary of Homeland Security and governor of Pennsylvania, and Angelo R. Mozilo, the chief executive of Countrywide Financial, would not stand for re-election to the board at this years annual meeting in May.

The brief filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission made a point of saying that neither man cited any disagreement on any matter relating to the companys operations, policies or practices.

It gave no reason for the departures nor did it say if the company had chosen successors for the directors.

In recent months, Home Depots board has been working to regain trust and favor from investors after coming under fire for the compensation package paid to the former chief executive, Robert L. Nardelli, and for not showing up at last years annual meeting to address investors concerns.

Since ousting Mr. Nardelli this year, the board has added David H. Batchelder, a principal of the activist fund Relational Investors, as a member and has retained Lehman Brothers to look at strategic alternatives for its supply business in the hope of staving off another angry crowd at its annual meeting on May 24 in Atlanta.

Last week, Home Depots new chief executive, Frank Blake, said all the directors would attend this years annual meeting, and that all questions from investors would be taken and considered. Last year, Mr. Nardelli drew fire for limiting questions, not answering some and abruptly ending the meeting after 45 minutes.

A bigger question is how Home Depot will fill the growing number of empty seats on its board.

The board added Mr. Batchelder and Helen Johnson-Leipold, the chief executive of Johnson Outdoors, to its ranks in recent months. Now it presumably has to find successors to Mr. Mozilo and Mr. Ridge, and four other directors are expected to retire before next years annual meeting because they have reached the mandatory retirement age of 72.