The troubled do-it-yourself giant, Home Depot, has come to terms with "shareholder activist" Relational Investors, reports the New York Times. The deal will give Relational’s David Batchelder a seat on the board and force four directors associated with the previous regime of Robert Nardelli to leave the board when their terms expire.

The deal won praise for infusing the board with expertise in retail turnarounds. Home Depot will need some of that. It’s certainly running second to Lowe’s in the race for quality and service. (See my take on all this here.)

Relational attacked Nardelli’s administration for failing to execute the "Home Depot Supply" stragegy, which focused on selling much more to contractors. The critics said that the strategy destroyed shareholder value and got away from the core do-it-yourself business. But it’s not clear exactly how it can be executed better and still revive that core business.

We’ll see in Las Vegas, I suppose. The two chains go head to head across the valley and there are plenty of contractors who could take advantage of the "Supply" strategy.