Type one of these names into Google and the other tends to pop up beside it. It makes some sense. Both men ran huge American companies, and both got there the slow way.
Still, we couldn’t find a clear, checkable comparison anywhere. So here are Marvin Ellison and Greg Garland, lined up next to each other, with dates you can verify yourself.
One honest warning first. We found no sign that the two ever worked together, so think of this as two stories placed side by side.
Marvin Ellison: The Kid Who Started at $4.35 an Hour
Ellison grew up in Haywood County, Tennessee, a rural area northeast of Memphis. He studied at the University of Memphis and picked up an MBA from Emory later on.
His first real job was part-time at Target, paying $4.35 an hour, back when he was still in college. He stayed with the company for about 15 years and reached a director-level post.
Today he is chairman and CEO of Lowe’s, a chain with more than 1,700 stores and around 300,000 employees. The company brought in roughly $84 billion in 2024.
Where Ellison has worked:
- Target, about 15 years, from part-timer to director level
- The Home Depot, about 12 years, ending as executive vice president of U.S. stores
- J.C. Penney, as chairman and CEO
- Lowe’s, since July 2018
- FedEx, as a board member
Greg Garland: An Engineer Who Ended Up Running a Refiner
Garland took the engineering road. He earned a chemical engineering degree at Texas A&M, then joined Phillips Petroleum in 1980 as a project engineer at its plastics technical center.
He never really left that corporate family. He moved through planning and specialty chemicals, ran Chevron Phillips Chemical as CEO from 2008 to 2010, and then went over to ConocoPhillips.
In 2012 he landed the job he’s best known for: first chairman and CEO of Phillips 66, a company created when ConocoPhillips split in two.
Where Garland has worked:
- Phillips Petroleum, starting in 1980 as a project engineer
- Chevron Phillips Chemical, president and CEO, 2008 to 2010
- ConocoPhillips, senior vice president of Exploration and Production, Americas, 2010 to 2012
- Phillips 66, chairman and CEO from 2012; he stayed on as executive chairman and left the board in May 2024
- Amgen, as a board member since 2013
Marvin Ellison and Greg Garland: Two Careers, Year by Year
Laying the years out in a row shows the real difference. Ellison switched employers three times before reaching Lowe’s. Garland stayed in one corporate family and climbed inside it.
| Period | Marvin Ellison | Greg Garland |
| 1980s | Student at the University of Memphis, part-time at Target | Joins Phillips Petroleum as a project engineer (1980) |
| 1990s to early 2000s | Works up the ladder at Target | Planning and specialty chemicals roles at Chevron Phillips Chemical |
| Mid 2000s to 2010 | Moves to The Home Depot | Becomes CEO of Chevron Phillips Chemical (2008) |
| 2010 to 2012 | Senior operations roles at Home Depot | Heads Exploration and Production, Americas, at ConocoPhillips |
| 2012 to 2018 | Leads J.C. Penney as chairman and CEO | Chairman and CEO of Phillips 66 from 2012 |
| 2018 to 2022 | Named Lowe’s CEO (July 2018), then chairman (2021) | Passes the CEO job to Mark Lashier (July 2022) |
| 2023 to today | Still running Lowe’s | Leaves the Phillips 66 board in May 2024 |
How Marvin Ellison Climbed From Part-Timer to Lowe’s Chairman
Fortune once asked Ellison how he got so far from a $4.35 start. His answer was plain: he volunteered for the jobs “nobody else wanted.” Hard assignments get noticed, and he collected plenty of them.
After Target came a long stretch at The Home Depot, where he learned how a giant store network runs day to day. Then he took the top seat at J.C. Penney, which was a rough turnaround.
Lowe’s hired him in 2018 to replace Robert Niblock. He told a retail crowd that the company had drifted into side projects, and his fix was almost boring on purpose.
“Be in stock.” — Marvin Ellison, on his first rule of retail, NRF Retail’s Big Show
Simple as that sounds, it shaped a lot of what followed. He reshuffled his management team early and kept steering everyone back to what he called retail fundamentals.
What that looked like in practice:
- Better selection and on-time delivery for professional contractors
- More help for customers who want the job done for them, from store visit to finished install
- A tighter focus on the basics before chasing new ideas
- Chairman duties added in June 2021, when he took over from Richard Dreiling
How Greg Garland Built Phillips 66 From Scratch
Garland’s big test arrived in 2012. ConocoPhillips spun off its refining, marketing and chemicals units, and he became the new company’s first boss. Nothing existed yet, not even a shared identity.
He leaned hard on steady payouts. Phillips 66 says it returned about $29 billion to shareholders during his ten years, through dividends, buybacks and exchanges.
The pay was big too. Equilar, which tracks executive compensation, put his total at roughly $201 million for 2012 through 2021, mostly stock awards and bonuses.
When he gave the CEO job to Mark Lashier in 2022, he didn’t hedge in public.
“Mark is the right leader at the right time for Phillips 66.” — Greg Garland, April 2022
Greg Garland and Marvin Ellison: Different Habits, Same Staying Power
Ellison learned his trade on shop floors. He thinks in shelves, staff and customers. Garland learned his in plants and boardrooms, where costs, safety and long projects drive the day.
You can hear it in how they talk. Ellison keeps it practical and close to the store. Garland talks capital, returns and planning cycles. Neither style beats the other; each suits its industry.
Where they look alike:
- Each spent more than three decades in one industry
- Each ran real operations before taking a chairman’s seat
- Each picked a clear message and kept repeating it
- Each also sat on an outside board, FedEx for Ellison and Amgen for Garland
Where they split:
- Ellison stepped into an old company, while Garland launched a new one
- Ellison changed employers, while Garland stayed in one family of companies
- Ellison is still in his CEO seat, while Garland has retired from Phillips 66
Marvin Ellison vs Greg Garland: The Quick Comparison
Short on time? This table holds the main facts in one place.
| Category | Marvin Ellison | Greg Garland |
| Industry | Home improvement retail | Energy and chemicals |
| Main company | Lowe’s | Phillips 66 |
| Top role | Chairman, president and CEO | Chairman and CEO (2012 to 2022), then executive chairman |
| First job | Part-time at Target | Project engineer at Phillips Petroleum |
| Education | University of Memphis, Emory MBA | Texas A&M, chemical engineering |
| Time at the top | Since July 2018 | About ten years as CEO |
| Outside board | FedEx | Amgen |
| Status today | Active at Lowe’s | Left the Phillips 66 board in 2024 |
What Marvin Ellison and Greg Garland Can Teach the Rest of Us
You don’t need a corner office to use any of this. Most of it works in an ordinary job, in nearly any field.
- Learn the floor first. Ellison knows stores because he worked in them. Garland knows plants because he started in one.
- Raise your hand for the awkward job. People remember who took it.
- Say one thing, again and again. Both men kept their message short.
- Plan the handover. Garland stayed on as executive chairman for a while, then left on schedule.
- Look outside your lane. Ellison moved through three retailers and brought something new from each.
Where This Leaves Us
Marvin Ellison and Greg Garland got to the top by different roads. One zigzagged through retailers. The other climbed one big corporate family from the plastics lab upward.
Both started with ordinary entry-level work and kept learning the business from the inside. If you’re mapping your own career, that part is easy to copy, starting this week.
Want more profiles like this? Browse our other business biographies on Globalsmean.com.