Bunch appointed DeCA’s acting deputy director, COO
FORT GREGG-ADAMS, Va. – Robert J. Bunch has been appointed acting deputy director and chief operating officer (COO) of the Defense Commissary Agency by John Hall, director and CEO, effective Jan. 14.
Bunch, a member of the Senior Executive Service (SES), follows Dr. Theon Danet in the temporary position. Danet, CIO and executive director of the IT Group, served as DeCA’s acting deputy director and chief operating officer from May 1, 2023, to January 13, 2024.
The deputy director and chief operating officer became open upon the April 30, 2023, retirement of former Deputy Director and COO, Michael Dowling. The process to select the next deputy director is ongoing.
As DeCA’s acting deputy director and COO, Bunch will have directive authority for administering information technology, resource management, human resources, engineering, contracting and legislative affairs, and will assume all supervisory authorities of the deputy director position.
This succession process ensures the worldwide chain of nearly 240 commissaries, with 14,000 employees and $4.4 billion in annual sales, continues to meet the needs of patrons across the enterprise.
Bunch will continue to serve as executive director of Store Operations, where he directs more than 11,000 employees, and manages and directs tactical store support for DeCA’s commissaries. These stores are configured under five areas divided into 25 field zones in 46 states, 13 countries and two U.S. territories. He is also responsible for ensuring that continual quality of service is provided to commissary patrons while maintaining the agency’s mission integrity.
Bunch’s previous role as director of the agency’s Central Area, involved oversight of 46 commissaries located in 14 states spanning from Wisconsin and Michigan in the north to Florida and Louisiana in the south. The area’s annual sales exceed $1 billion.
Prior to being director of Central Area, Bunch had served since 2011 as chief of the Operations Guidance & Program Standardization Division in the Store Operations Directorate at DeCA Headquarters.
He began his commissary career in 1996 as a grocery manager at the Naval Air Station Key West Commissary in Florida. During his commissary career Bunch has subsequently held every leadership role in the field including store administrator, store director and zone manager.
Prior to DeCA, he served in uniform, retiring from the U.S. Army in 1995 after having served honorably in a myriad of assignments throughout the world including serving in the Gulf War, for which he was awarded a Bronze Star and a Meritorious Service Medal.
Upon his retirement Bunch went to work as a store manager for Delhaise America’s Food Lion Division, Salisbury, North Carolina. He was store director for the Brevard, North Carolina, Food Lion when he changed his career path to join DeCA with an assignment to the Key West Florida Commissary.
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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.