Joseph Jeu selected next DeCA director

By Kevin L. Robinson, DeCA public affairs specialist

FORT LEE, Va. Joseph H. Jeu, a member of the Senior Executive Service, has been selected as the new director and CEO of the Defense Commissary Agency. His appointment was effective Jan. 3.

Jeu comes to DeCA from the U.S. General Services Administration, where he was the assistant commissioner for general supplies and services for the Federal Acquisition Service. As DeCA director, Jeu succeeds Philip E. Sakowitz Jr., who retired in June 2010. In the interim, Thomas E. Milks, the agency's chief operating officer, served as its acting director.

"Over the span of his distinguished career, Mr. Jeu's comprehensive experience has been in leading and delivering results in business operations, including capital investments, in a worldwide retail activity," said Dr. Clifford L. Stanley, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness.

In his previous assignment at GSA, Jeu was responsible for managing three business lines: 1) supply operations, providing more than $1.4 billion in products to federal agencies worldwide; 2) acquisition operations, establishing government contracts of nearly $23 billion a year; and 3) property management, disposing of nearly $1 billion in excess personal property.

Jeu is no stranger to walking the aisles of a grocery operation. His roots as a retailer began in 1975 as a management trainee with Safeway Stores Inc., in Landover, Md. When he left Safeway, he was one of the grocery chain's youngest store managers.

"Returning to commissaries is a homecoming of sorts, and I'm privileged to have the opportunity to once again serve those who selflessly dedicate their lives in service to our great nation," Jeu said about becoming the director of DeCA. "Serving our customers' needs is paramount and will always be my No. 1 responsibility."

His government career began in 1978 as a commissary specialist with the U.S. Army Troop Support Agency's European Region. In 1979, he was promoted as a commissary officer in Heidelberg, Germany, where he was responsible for managing a store with annual sales of $11 million.

After working three years in the Pentagon with the Department of the Army's deputy chief of logistics, Jeu joined Headquarters Marine Corps in 1984. There, he managed the Marine Corps Commissary System that included 15 commissaries and two commissary complexes. The Marine Corps complex system — one complex on the East Coast at Camp Lejeune, N.C., and another on the West Coast at Marine Corps Air Station El Toro, Calif. — functioned like mini headquarters elements, managing the stores in their area.

In 1987, Jeu was promoted to head of the Marine Corps Services Branch, where he managed the Marines' garrison-level vehicle fleet, personal property and food service programs. He also continued control of Marine Corps commissaries until Oct. 1, 1991, when the creation of DeCA consolidated the four services' military commissaries into one organization.

Jeu began his 10-year run with GSA after his 2000 appointment to the Senior Executive Service and subsequent selection as the assistant commissioner for transportation and property management for the organization's then Federal Supply Service, also known as FSS. Four years later, he was promoted to assistant commissioner in the office of global supply, a significantly larger program where he managed the FSS stock and other programs that support federal activities worldwide, which include the Department of Defense, Federal Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Forest Service wildfire suppression program.

He is the recipient of the 2009 Presidential Rank Award for Meritorious Executive. As a Meritorious Presidential Rank recipient, Jeu was recognized as a leader in the top 5 percent of the federal government's Senior Executive Service. In June 2010, President Barack Obama appointed him as a member of the Committee for Purchase from People Who Are Blind or Severely Disabled. He has also received the Navy Superior Civilian Service Award in May 1987 and the Navy Distinguished Civilian Service Award in July 2001.

Jeu graduated from the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va., in 1975 with a bachelor's degree in business administration. In 1991, he completed the Harvard University Senior Officials in National Security Program.