Marvin Ellison’s Journey To Leading Lowe’s As The Top Black CEO Of A Fortune 500 Company — ‘I Had To Find A Way To Differentiate Myself’ – AfroTech

Marvin Ellison’s journey to becoming president, CEO, and chairman of Lowe’s began far from the boardroom. While attending the University of Memphis, he worked part-time at Target, earning $4.35 an hour, according to Fortune.

“I was fortunate to land in a company that believed in developing people, and I just grinded it out for 15 years all the way up to a director level,” Ellison told Daymond John, the entrepreneur behind FUBU and an investor on “Shark Tank,” in a 2022 interview.

That early experience shaped how Ellison approached his career, especially as someone who didn’t come from a traditional corporate pedigree.

“I didn’t have an Ivy League education. I didn’t have any stellar international opportunities or stints on my resume. I’m competing against all of these exceptionally talented people on paper; I had to find a way to differentiate myself,” he shared in the interview.

His strategy became simple but demanding: Take every tough assignment no one else wanted.

“I’d take tough jobs in areas where the previous lead had been fired for performance or in areas where they had never performed well,” Ellison said. “That became my MO. I’m going to take the job no one else wants, and I’m going to hope I can get in there and build a good team and turn it around.”

Ellison’s willingness to take on challenging assignments propelled his career, with him rising to the role of director at Target before leaving in 2022 to pursue opportunities in home improvement retail. He held senior operations roles, including executive vice president of U.S. stores at The Home Depot and later chairman and CEO of JCPenney, according to his LinkedIn profile. These experiences ultimately led him to Lowe’s, where he became president and CEO in 2018 and later chairman, president, and CEO in 2021.

Representation Matters

Ellison, who oversees more than 1,700 Lowe’s stores and 300,000 associates across the U.S., per the company’s website, is one of the few Black executives serving as a CEO in the Fortune 500, as AFROTECH™ previously reported. As of June 2025, he is the top Black CEO in the group based on company revenue. Fortune notes that just 1.6% of Fortune 500 companies are led by Black CEOs, even though Black Americans make up 14.4% of the population.

“I have mixed emotions,” he further stated in his sit-down interview with John. “On one hand, I feel incredibly privileged and blessed to be in this role because it gives me a chance to hopefully be a positive role model and create a pathway for other people who look like me.”

But the representation gap remains stark, which is something Ellison acknowledged plainly.

He added at the time, “I’m really disappointed that in 2022 we still have such a significant gap in the capabilities that exist out there, in the opportunities for individuals who look like me to be in a role like this.”

For Ellison, performing at the highest level is not only about shareholders but also about carving space for future leaders.

“If I can do a great job in this role delivering on all the things that matter to me — the customer experience, the employee experience, impact on the community thus driving value for shareholders — maybe boards of directors or other decision-makers will look at me and understand the value in having diverse-minded CEOs with untraditional paths,” he said in the interview.

Building Internal Pathways

Ellison said that when it came to creating more opportunities for diverse candidates inside Lowe’s, he didn’t want to make a media moment of it.

“The first initiative was talk less and do more,” he said in the interview. “We didn’t go out and make some big public announcement. I didn’t do a series of interviews. I didn’t put the white papers out. We just fixed it by making it a priority.”

He also stated that Lowe’s implemented internal systems to identify and develop candidates who might not fit conventional corporate molds.

“We’ve identified what we call core leadership behaviors that we train people on,” Ellison explained in the interview. “We’re creating this pipeline of talent throughout the organizaiton not based on what your resume looks like, but on your results, leadership characteristics, and what you do every day.”

Expanding Access For Minority Entrepreneurs

Beyond developing internal talent, the Lowe’s CEO has been focused on helping diverse entrepreneurs connect with the massive customer base that Lowe’s serves — both in-store and online.

“We’re doing things to create opportunities for minority entrepreneurs and suppliers to have a chance to put their products on the shelf both in-store and online of a $100 billion retailer,” he told John. “I understand the importance of access and opportunity, and that’s what we’re trying to do.”

When it comes to entrepreneurs who want to sell through Lowe’s, Ellison also shared clear advice:

• Solve a Real Customer Problem
  • “At the end of the day, the products that work best are products that either serve or solve a customer problem. We’re in the home improvement business, so in our space, you’re either trying to create a dream or solve a problem for a customer.”
• Plan for Success — Not Just the Pitch
  • “Somebody will have a good product idea, but if they get an order for 10,000 units, they can’t produce it. They haven’t thought through all the necessary steps beyond the product itself.”
• Educate Yourself
  • “There’s just a treasure trove of information online where you can understand exactly what you need to do and how you can prepare yourself, your product, your business, your entrepreneurial idea to expand and grow. Do the work, do the research so when you come in, you’re as educated as possible.”