Blank Slate

Arthur Blank, co-founder of The Home Depot Inc. (Atlanta), has been named Overall Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year 2005. Blank is also the owner and ceo of the Atlanta Falcons pro football team.

Blank was honored as both the Overall Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year national award winner as well as the national winner in the Retail & Consumer Products category at a gala in Palm Springs, Calif.

“Arthur Blank exemplifies the very best in entrepreneurial spirit,” said Ernst & Young chairman and ceo James Turley. “[He] took a simple idea and turned it into the world’s largest home improvement retailer, while never forgetting the communities that supported his success.”

An accountant by training, Blank was cfo of Handy Dan Improvement Centers in the late 1970s when, he said, he believed Handy Dan could not compete against a big store that offered a lot of merchandise, good service and low prices. In 1979, he and colleague Bernard Marcus decided to become that competitor and started The Home Depot. During Blank’s 23 years at the company, Home Depot’s sales rose at a compound annual rate of 46 percent, while earnings rose at a compound annual rate of 49 percent. Today, the company — the second-largest retail organization in the U.S. — has sales of $73 billion, employing more than 325,000 associates. A new Home Depot store opens every 48 hours.

Runners-up in the Retail & Consumer Products category were Richard Heckmann, chairman and ceo of K2 Inc. (Carlsbad, Calif.), maker of branded consumer products for sports and adventure activities; Leonard Lavin, chairman emeritus of Alberto-Culver (Melrose Park, Ill.), the manufacturer and marketer of hair, beauty care and household products; and Nicholas Taubman, retired chairman and ceo of Advance Auto Parts Inc. (Roanoke, Va.).