Carol Tomé

CEO of UPS and former CFO of The Home Depot

Claims

As speaker

Mentioned in

Key positions and views

The most effective finance professionals are business people first, focusing on operational realities rather than just financial metrics [10].

A company's strategy should be 'better, not bigger,' prioritizing profitable customer segments that value its core services over sheer volume growth [42].

Outdated corporate policies, such as those on employee appearance, are a direct impediment to attracting and retaining talent in the modern workforce [14].

Capital-intensive, low-margin, and slow-growth business units should be divested to free up capital for more strategic and profitable ventures [40].

Integrating finance and strategy is highly effective because both disciplines are fundamentally about the strategic allocation of capital [11].

Podcast consensus on Tomé

Points of consensus

▶Multiple sources confirm that during Carol Tomé's tenure as CFO of The Home Depot, the company's shareholder value grew by 450% [4, 20].Apr 2026

▶Tomé has a significant track record of mentoring and developing talent, having hired the current CEO of Home Depot, Ted Decker [17], and managed the current CEO of Tractor Supply, Hal Lawton [3], with numerous other former reports becoming CFOs of public companies [16].Apr 2026

▶As CEO of UPS, Tomé has implemented a clear 'better, not bigger' strategy focused on profitability, which involved divesting the low-margin UPS Freight business [40], strategically reducing volume from Amazon [38], and focusing on high-value segments like small businesses and healthcare [42].

▶Multiple claims and quotes state that UPS's daily operations are responsible for moving a significant portion of the economy, equivalent to 6% of the U.S. GDP and 2% of the world's GDP [28, 30].Apr 2026

Points of debate

▶Tomé's modernization of UPS's employee appearance policies to allow for tattoos and natural hair was met with a divided response; while current employees 'loved it,' the changes generated 'nasty grams' and negative feedback from company retirees [27].Apr 2026

▶The strategy for The Home Depot in China under her financial leadership showed mixed results. While she pivoted from large stores to smaller, profitable paint stores [19], the company ultimately exited the market after determining the new model could not be scaled effectively [41].Apr 2026

▶Her tenure as UPS CEO is framed by a sharp contrast between the company's performance before and after her arrival. Prior to her leadership, UPS stock had been flat for six years with contracting margins [21] and seven years of market share loss in the SMB segment [35], a situation she was hired to reverse.Apr 2026

▶The strategic decision to create a 'glide path down' in volume with Amazon [38] represents a significant pivot from serving a high-volume client to prioritizing higher-margin business, a move that contrasts with a growth-at-all-costs approach.

Key themes

▶Strategic Financial LeadershipApr 2026

Carol Tomé's career is defined by the integration of finance and corporate strategy. At The Home Depot, her CFO role was expanded to include strategy [2], and she views both disciplines as fundamentally about capital allocation [11]. This philosophy is evident in her actions as UPS CEO, such as divesting the capital-intensive, low-margin UPS Freight business [40].

Analysts should view Tomé's decisions through the lens of a CFO, where return on invested capital and margin quality are likely to be prioritized over sheer revenue or volume growth.

▶Corporate Culture as a Performance DriverApr 2026

Tomé believes culture is paramount, subscribing to the idea that 'culture eats strategy for breakfast' [12]. Upon becoming UPS CEO, she identified outdated appearance policies as an impediment to talent acquisition [14] and focused on improving the employee 'likelihood to recommend' score from 51% to a target of 80% [22, 31].

Her focus on culture is not just a 'soft' issue but a core part of her talent and business strategy, suggesting that employee sentiment metrics at UPS could be leading indicators of future performance.

▶Portfolio Optimization and Market Adaptation

Tomé demonstrates a willingness to make bold portfolio moves to adapt to market realities and pursue profitability. This includes exiting the Chinese market with Home Depot after a strategic pivot failed to scale [41], selling UPS Freight [40], acquiring Bomi Group to expand into high-value healthcare logistics [33], and strategically reducing volume from Amazon [38].

Investors can expect Tomé to continue actively managing UPS's business portfolio, with a high probability of further acquisitions in strategic growth areas and divestitures of underperforming or non-core assets.

▶Talent Development and MentorshipApr 2026

A recurring theme is Tomé's role in developing future leaders. She hired the current CEO of Home Depot [17], managed the current CEO of Tractor Supply [3], and states that numerous former employees have become CFOs of publicly traded companies [16].

Tomé's ability to cultivate a strong leadership pipeline suggests a deep and stable management culture at the companies she leads, which can be a significant, though often overlooked, long-term asset.

Source episodes

Sentiment over time

Not enough data for timeline

Changes over time

1995

Joined The Home Depot as its first outside corporate officer to help with international expansion and financial acumen. At the time, the company had 400 stores and $14 billion in revenue [1, 8, 13].

c. 2002

Hired Ted Decker, who would go on to become the CEO of The Home Depot approximately 20 years later [17].

Post-1995

As CFO of The Home Depot, her role was expanded by CEO Frank Blake to include strategy [2]. During her tenure, she oversaw a 450% growth in shareholder value [4, 20] and managed the company's entry, strategic pivot, and eventual exit from the Chinese market [19, 39, 41].

2019

Retired from her position as CFO of The Home Depot after nearly two decades of service [18].

2020

Came out of retirement to become CEO of UPS, a company whose stock had been flat for six years [21]. In the second quarter, she oversaw the hiring of 40,000 new employees to manage the COVID-19 pandemic volume surge [43].

Post-2020

As UPS CEO, implemented the 'better, not bigger' strategy, divested UPS Freight, acquired Bomi Group to expand in healthcare logistics, modernized employee appearance policies, and established a new corporate purpose statement [6, 33, 40, 42].

Suggested prompts

How did Carol Tomé's experience with Home Depot's unsuccessful China expansion influence her 'better, not bigger' strategy and focus on core profitable markets at UPS? &nearr;What are the long-term financial implications of UPS strategically reducing volume from its largest customer, Amazon, in favor of higher-margin small and medium-sized businesses? &nearr;To what extent did the 'inverted pyramid' leadership model at Home Depot shape Tomé's approach to addressing employee morale and modernizing workplace policies at UPS? &nearr;Analyze the connection between Tomé's philosophy of being a 'business person first, finance person second' and her track record of mentoring multiple C-suite executives. &nearr;

Key concepts

UPS Strategy 3 ep Home Depot Growth 2 ep Leadership Philosophy 2 ep Corporate Culture 3 ep Talent Development 2 ep Capital Allocation 2 ep Healthcare Logistics 1 ep International Strategy 2 ep Divestitures & Acquisitions 1 ep Shareholder Value 2 ep

Notable quotes

“My learning is that the best finance people are business people first and finance people second.”

Carol Tomé · How UPS CEO Carol Tomé Helped Home Depot Grow 450%

“When we had an LTL or less than full truckload business called UPS Freight, capital intensive, low margins, slow growth. I'm like, I hate this business. So we sold it.”

Carol Tomé · UPS CEO Carol Tomé Breaks the Myth: Kindness Fuels Success

“So we reached agreement with Amazon about the volume that we would take from them and deliver for them and the volume that they would deliver for themselves. And by reaching that agreement, it creates a glide path down with Amazon.”

Carol Tomé · UPS CEO Carol Tomé Breaks the Myth: Kindness Fuels Success

“Our people, for the most part, loved it. Our retirees sent me a lot of nasty grams. They didn't love it so much.”

Carol Tomé · Why the CEO of UPS Changed the Rules on Tattoos and Hair

Report last updated: Apr 21, 2026

Get started free

Back to Entities Intelligence Report