Carol Tomé

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Carol Tomé became the first woman named CEO of UPS in 2020 after spending nearly three decades at Home Depot.

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Carol Tomé is the chief executive officer of United Parcel Service (UPS), where she has overseen efforts to make the package-delivery giant more profitable and efficient. After spending nearly three decades at Home Depot (HD), including 18 years as chief financial officer, Tomé became UPS’s CEO in 2020, just as the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted global shipping networks and consumer buying patterns.

During Tomé’s tenure, UPS faced a surge in online purchases as a result of the pandemic. The company also reduced some deliveries for Amazon.com (AMZN), a move criticized by some investors but defended by Tomé as necessary to improve profitability.

Carol Tomé was born Carol Buchenroth on January 8, 1957, in Jackson, Wyoming. She grew up in a rural area near Jackson with her siblings, in a family whose roots in the state stretched back to the homesteading era. Her father worked as a banker, and much of her childhood was shaped by outdoor and ranch life. In interviews, Tomé has described helping with ranch work and learning skills such as hunting, fishing, cooking, and gardening at an early age.

After graduating from high school, Tomé attended Colorado State University for a year before transferring to the University of Wyoming in Laramie, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in communication. She later received a master’s degree in finance from the University of Denver.

While attending the University of Wyoming, she met Ramon Tomé, whom she later married. Tomé had expected to join her father’s bank following graduate school and eventually succeed him there. But when her parents divorced and he decided to sell the business, she instead pursued a career in finance and corporate management.

Tomé began her career in banking in 1981, joining United Bank of Denver through a commercial lending training program. She later became a vice president at the bank, where she worked on large corporate loans and financing deals during a period marked by leveraged buyouts and turmoil in the savings and loan industry.

Seeking broader corporate finance experience, Tomé left banking to join Johns Manville Corporation, a building materials manufacturer that had filed for bankruptcy protection because of asbestos-related liabilities. She helped the company emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings and later worked on acquisitions and international financing transactions as the company expanded globally.

In the early 1990s, Tomé helped lead the initial public offering of Manville Forest Products, a paper and packaging business that was later renamed Riverwood International Corp. In 1992, she moved to Atlanta to become the company’s treasurer.

While living in Atlanta, Tomé became a frequent customer and shareholder of Home Depot, the fast-growing home improvement retailer headquartered in the area. In 1995, she joined the company as treasurer.

Tomé joined Home Depot during a period of rapid expansion; the retailer was opening stores across the United States and becoming one of the country’s largest home improvement chains. As one of the company’s first senior executives hired from outside the organization, she initially struggled to adapt to its highly retail-focused culture after building her career in banking and corporate finance.

To better understand the business, she worked in Home Depot stores and learned the company’s retail operations firsthand from employees. Over time, she helped introduce more formal financial planning, productivity measures, and operational controls as the company grew into one of the nation’s largest retailers.

Tomé was promoted to senior vice president of finance in 1999 and became chief financial officer in 2001. During her tenure as CFO, Home Depot navigated several major challenges, including leadership changes, shareholder pressure, and the 2007–08 financial crisis and housing downturn, which sharply reduced demand for home improvement spending.

Working closely with CEO Frank Blake, Tomé helped steer Home Depot back toward its core retail business after a period of diversification. The company sold HD Supply, its wholesale distribution business; modernized its supply chain; and emphasized productivity and capital discipline over rapid store expansion.

Home Depot’s financial performance improved significantly during the 2010s, with rising profits, expanding operating margins, and strong growth in its stock price. Tomé also became known within the company for mentoring finance executives and supporting leadership development programs, including initiatives aimed at advancing women in management.

In 2014, Home Depot selected Craig Menear rather than Tomé to succeed Blake as CEO. Although some observers expected her to leave the company, she chose to remain CFO and continued helping to shape the retailer’s long-term strategy. She retired from Home Depot in 2019 after nearly 25 years with the company, including 18 years as CFO.

Shortly after retiring from Home Depot, Tomé was recruited to become the next CEO of United Parcel Service, another Atlanta-area company where she had previously been on the board of directors. She assumed the role in June 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic was disrupting global commerce and supply chains.

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Online shopping surged during the COVID-19 pandemic, placing new demands on UPS as residential shipments climbed sharply.

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Lockdowns and the rapid growth of online shopping soon sent residential deliveries soaring. Tomé responded by expanding automation efforts, adjusting UPS’s delivery network, and adapting the company’s operations to surging package volume.

Tomé later shifted UPS’s strategy toward improving profitability rather than simply handling more deliveries. The company reduced some high-volume shipments that generated relatively low profit, including those for Amazon, one of UPS’s largest customers. The approach drew criticism from some investors concerned about slowing growth, but Tomé argued that the strategy would improve the company’s financial performance.

UPS’s revenue and earnings increased significantly during the early years of Tomé’s tenure, although the company later faced slowing demand and pressure on its stock price as pandemic-era shipping growth eased. By 2026, UPS was continuing a multiyear effort to improve efficiency through automation, cost reductions, and network restructuring while focusing on profitability.

Tomé has been known for emphasizing operational discipline, productivity, and long-term financial performance over rapid expansion. At both Home Depot and UPS, she became associated with strategies focused on efficiency, disciplined spending, and profitability.

She has also spoken frequently about leadership and workplace culture, particularly the importance of collaboration and mentorship. During her years at Home Depot, she supported leadership-development programs and initiatives aimed at advancing women in management.

Before becoming UPS’s CEO, Tomé was a member of the company’s board of directors. She also sat on the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.