Home Depot Taps Matt Carey To Oversee Customer Experience, Names New CIO

Home Depot this week named Matt Carey EVP of Customer Experience, shifting the retailer’s longtime Chief Information Officer into a more explicit customer-facing role and underscoring the importance of digital channels in shaping the shopping experience.

In the newly created role, which reports to CEO Ted Decker, Carey will oversee the vision, design, and development of digital solutions that create a more seamless experience for Home Depot’s customers across physical stores, online and mobile channels.

Fahim Siddiqui was named EVP and Chief Information Officer, also reporting to Decker. Most recently Home Depot’s SVP of IT, he will be responsible for all aspects of the company’s technology strategy, infrastructure and software development for the company’s more than 2,300 retail stores, supply chain facilities, store support centers and online systems.

Digital and technology executives continue to see expanded purviews and greater strategic influence across their organizations as technology plays a greater role in shaping customer experiences.

“Now more than ever, our customers expect to shop with us how, when, and where they want, and there’s little tolerance for friction in the shopping experience,” said Decker, the 22-year Home Depot veteran who stepped into the CEO role last month. “Matt has a proven track record driving customer-first technology innovation, and I look forward to his leadership as we continue to make shopping at Home Depot a truly interconnected, easy experience for our customers.”

Home Depot is aiming for $200 billion in annual sales after surpassing the $150 billion mark in fiscal year 2021. The company expects both DIY and professional customers to continue to purchase across physical and digital channels. On a February earnings call, Decker noted that roughly half of online orders were fulfilled through physical stores in fiscal year 2021.

Enhanced mobile applications, loyalty programs, personalized pricing and product recommendations, and tools that help create a more seamless transition between online channels and physical stores are among the digital solutions the company hopes will help achieve its goal.

Carey joined Home Depot in 2008. As CIO, he led a revamp of the company’s IT infrastructure and approach to software development, including a shift to Agile and an upgrade of all communication networks, more than 100 supply chain distribution systems, and retail systems across the company’s physical stores.

He previously was SVP and Chief Technology Officer at eBay, where he oversaw product development, site operations, cybersecurity, platform engineering, data warehousing and catalog operations for eBay Marketplaces. Prior to that he spent more than 20 years at Walmart, including a stint as SVP and CTO.

Siddiqui joined the company in 2018 as SVP of IT, overseeing the development of applications across the online, marketing, merchandising, supply chain, and data and analytics functions. He also led the rollout of a central platform of common services that aimed to increase agility, efficiency, and consistency for customers. Prior to joining Home Depot, Siddiqui held roles at firms including Staples, MCI, Time Warner Telecom and Sprint.

“Fahim is a tremendous leader and a brilliant technologist who understands the power of technology to unlock a better experience for our customers and associates, and I look forward to working with him in this next phase of growth,” Decker said.