Ramey named DeCA’s general counsel
FORT LEE, Va. – Chandra Ramey has been named the Defense Commissary Agency’s general counsel effective Nov. 29.
Ramey, previously principal deputy general counsel since August 2018, fills a position left vacant April 11 when Ralph J. Tremaglio III accepted a position as general counsel for the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA). Ramey had been serving as acting general counsel since Tremaglio’s departure.
“Chandra has excelled in applying her expertise in commercial and military law to helping us effectively advance as an agency,” said Bill Moore, DeCA’s director and CEO. “I’m confident that through her leadership our office of general counsel will help us stay on track as we push to be the grocer of choice for our military community.”
As general counsel, Ramey is the chief legal advisor for the DeCA director and manages all federal and state court litigation involving DeCA or its employees related to mission and job performance in areas of equal employment opportunity, civil rights, labor-management relations, merit principles, civilian personnel law, procurement, contractor and licensee relations, patents, trademarks, service marks and copyrights, and all other aspects of personnel and commercial law.
Ramey also serves as the designated agency ethics official and is responsible for Freedom of Information Act and Privacy requests, alternative dispute resolution, civil liberties programs, and the fraud, waste and abuse program.
“I’m excited and honored to be chosen to continue to lead this great team of legal professionals and to serve the DeCA community and its director and CEO, Mr. Moore, as the general counsel,” Ramey said. “I am grateful for and humbled by this opportunity.”
Before coming to DeCA, Ramey was the labor counselor for the Office of the Staff Judge Advocate, HQ, 21st Theater Sustainment Command (TSC), U.S. Army Europe at Kaiserslautern, Germany, responsible for federal employment law advice to 21st TSC and tenant organizations in the Kaiserslautern Military Community as well as elsewhere in Europe.
For 14 years, Ramey served as an attorney in the Office of the Solicitor, Alaska Region, U.S. Department of Interior, Anchorage, Alaska, responsible for federal employment law and for serving as the office’s lead Special Assistant U.S. Attorney prosecuting cases arising on lands in Alaska managed by the U.S. Department of Interior as well as matters falling under the jurisdiction of the agency.
She also served on active duty in the U.S. Army as a judge advocate, serving at Fort Sill, Oklahoma; Fort Bliss, Texas; and Fort Wainwright, Alaska, providing legal services to soldiers, family members and commanders in assignments including legal assistance, trial counsel, trial defense, Special Assistant U.S. Attorney, Chief of Claims for U.S. Army Alaska, and legal advisor to Bassett Army Community Hospital.
Over the course of her nearly 30-year career, Ramey has specialized in litigation, criminal law, and labor and employment law, while also providing legal counsel in the areas including ethics, Freedom of Information Act, Privacy Act, installation law, medical law and administrative law.
Ramey has a bachelor’s degree in economics, cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from Denison University, Granville, Ohio; a Juris Doctor degree, cum laude, merit scholar, from the Case Western Reserve School of Law, Cleveland, Ohio; and graduated from the Judge Advocate General’s School, 136th Officer Basic Course, Charlottesville, Virginia.
Ramey was admitted to the Ohio Bar in 1994 and admitted to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces in 1995.
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About DeCA: The Defense Commissary Agency operates a worldwide chain of commissaries providing groceries to military personnel, retirees and their families in a safe and secure shopping environment. Commissaries provide a military benefit, saving authorized patrons thousands of dollars annually on their purchases compared to similar products at commercial retailers. The discounted prices include a 5-percent surcharge, which covers the costs of building new commissaries and modernizing existing ones. A core military family support element, and a valued part of military pay and benefits, commissaries contribute to family readiness, enhance the quality of life for America’s military and their families, and help recruit and retain the best and brightest men and women to serve their country.