Home Depot Recruits Ford AI Chief Franziska Bell as CTO to Drive Agentic AI

Home Depot, a major U.S. home-improvement retailer, has increasingly integrated technology across e-commerce, stores and its supply chain. Its recruitment of Franziska Bell, who previously led Ford’s AI operations, signals that retailers are moving Agentic AI beyond experimentation and into core operations to improve search, service and employee decision-making.

As of July 20, 2026, Home Depot had announced Bell’s appointment as executive vice president and chief technology officer. She will oversee the integration of Agentic AI, machine learning and data science across online and in-store experiences. The company has not disclosed her formal start date, compensation or the scale of its investment in quantitative terms.