From the Burger King at Fort Hood to senior leadership at headquarters, Senior Vice President of Merchandising Anna Iosefo has served those who serve at every level of the Exchange.
Now, after 31 years, Iosefo is readying for retirement.
“My dream was always to be a general manager,” Iosefo said. “I always thought that there was a secret sauce that someone possessed in order to accomplish a position like that, to truly make a difference to our service members and families, the Exchange, and the direction of the business. Everything else beyond that has just been an incredible journey.”
Growing up in an Army household with a mother who served with the Exchange for nearly 20 years, Iosefo’s distinguished career began at the Fort Hood Burger King in 1989. Working part-time while attending college, she later transferred to the food court’s Baskin-Robbins and then the main store electronics section. About six months before graduating, she was approached by the store manager about potential next steps.
“I had no idea he even knew I was going to school or that he saw anything in me,” Iosefo said. “I thought that was pretty fantastic of him, because I didn’t even know there was anything to do at the Exchange beyond what I was doing at Fort Hood, so I hadn’t considered it as a career yet.”
After graduating, Iosefo was selected for the college trainee program, transferring to the Fort Polk Exchange in Louisiana. From there, she moved to multiple positions in Guam, Korea and Japan. In 2007, she achieved her dream of becoming a general manager, at the Misawa Exchange.
“My favorite and probably most impactful memories of the Exchange are of my time in the Pacific Region,” she said. “You’re essentially an ambassador when you’re in these positions, and it’s very important that you understand the overall picture of what you’re doing to fulfill your mission for the Exchange, so when service members and their families return home they remember how we took care of them overseas. It’s truly family serving family in that environment.”
Iosefo returned to the states in 2009, becoming the general manager at Fort Gordon. Four years later, she became an area manager for Eastern Region. In 2017, she became a vice president in the Merchandising directorate, being promoted to senior vice president of Central Region that same year. In 2018, she assumed the role of Merchandising SVP.
“Whenever I got into a leadership role, I’d introduce myself by saying, ‘I’m Anna Iosefo: This is my role, and I’m a fierce protector of this benefit. It’s my dad’s benefit, and it’s my father-in-law’s benefit. I hold that very dear, and my teammates feel the same way.”
Despite her remarkable career and professional accomplishments, Iosefo sees the support she’s given her team as her biggest accomplishment.
“I always thought it was very important to be very transparent to my team,” she said. “They could come and ask me any question that they had if they were unsure of what their path might be, or if they needed help in understanding how to reach a certain level in their career, or accomplishing a project or an event. … Any success I had can only attributed to their success. They made it happen.”
Looking back on her time with the Exchange, Iosefo says she hopes she made a difference for her teams, her peers and her leadership—and that she gave everything she had to fulfill the Exchange’s promise of family serving family.
“Wherever you are assigned in the world and whether or not it’s the assignment you wanted, be involved. Your job is what you make of it, and you have to fulfill your promise to our service members, their families and our team. Be involved, and use your resources at headquarters. There are so many wonderful people who work in the directorates who can help you with moving what we do forward. You can definitely make a difference.”
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