Chris Burns, B.S.'86

Food and Consumer Package Goods Outstanding Alumni Award

Christopher Burns actually began his grocery career in his youth by helping his grandfather at his store, Fred's Food Centre, in Ionia, Michigan, during the summer months. He began his defense commissary career in 1984. While still attending college he began working cooperative internships with the Army commissary system. He subsequently served in a variety of assignments within the commissary system, including many special projects at headquarters and region levels. He then served for a year as director of operations for DeCA East, headquartered at Fort Lee, Virginia. In that capacity, he was responsible for tasks focused on store-level support and improvement for the 99 commissaries within DeCA East.

He assumed his current role as director of sales February 2010, after serving since June 2007 as deputy director for DeCA West, continental United States, headquartered in McClellan, California, where he was responsible for operational oversight of 68 commissaries in 15 states, with annual sales that exceeded $1.7 billion.

As the Defense Commissary Agency's director of sales, he is responsible for more than $5.9 billion in annual agency sales. He oversees the resale contracting division and the marketing business unit, which develops and implements comprehensive marketing and merchandising programs for the agency. He is also responsible for the efficient and effective movement of subsistence to overseas commissaries through the Defense Transportation System – a $120 million-plus program. His other responsibilities include oversight of Guard and Reserve on-site sales, the agency's catalog master file, and the functional business systems store support team.