SFD Leader Discusses the Expanding World of Dining, Telecom and Much More

Named senior vice president of the Services and Food Directorate  in July, Denise Hunter has come full circle from her first Exchange job scooping ice cream for Baskin-Robbins at Germany’s Katterbach Exchange in 1987. But there’s a lot more in her circle now than just dessert.

Hunter not only oversees an expanding worldwide food portfolio of name-brand restaurants, theaters, plants and bakeries, delivering the very best tastes of home, but also an array of services that include personal services, health and wellness, vending, self-service markets, telecom and more.

At first, she says, her main role was being a military spouse. Her husband was an Army NCO, and when their children started school, she was hired as an intermittent teammate, working part-time at the Katterbach Baskin-Robbins. Whenever he PCS’d, she’d resign from wherever she was working to follow him.

“Every time I went back and knocked on the Exchange’s door, I was fortunate that they always welcomed me back,” she said. “[Director/CEO Tom] Shull says, ‘You are always welcome here,’ and that has been my experience. I’m happy that I always came back home.”

When Hunter’s husband retired from the Army, she saw an opportunity to work at the Exchange continuously. She accepted a job as a shift manager in Thule, Greenland (now Pittufik Space Force Base), because it was an entry to management.

“When my husband retired, I said, ‘Now you can move with me,’” Hunter said. “And he said, ‘I’ll do that. I’ll go wherever you go, because you’ve done this for me the last 20-plus years.’ That’s when this was no longer just a job and it turned into a career.”

Since that 2002 move, Hunter has worked in a variety of positions before becoming an SVP, in stores and at headquarters, including  executive administrator for the director/CEO; Department of Defense liaison officer; vice president of Government Policy; and vice president of Services, Health and Advanced Telecom.

The Exchange Post chatted with Hunter about her new position and what’s ahead.

What exciting things are ahead for SFD?

What’s exciting now is reimagining and reinventing ways that we can enhance our customer experience. Constant and consistent collaboration between front-line operators and SFD is essential to the successful development, planning and execution of strategic priorities and key initiatives. SFD remains laser-focused and driven to transform the customer experience by challenging the status quo and making business decisions that drive meaningful improvements.

Our strategy to modernize food offerings continues to evolve. We’re expanding our portfolio with nationally recognized brands such as Panera, Qdoba and Cupbop. In addition, we’re partnering with the Army on the Flexible Eating and Expanded Dining (FEED) initiative, which gives Soldiers more options to use their meal entitlements beyond traditional dining halls.

We’re also enhancing access to entertainment through initiatives like online theater ticketing.

Another area of growth is self-service markets. These continue to expand, especially in remote locations, offering convenience and 24/7 access. Several new units are planned before the end of fiscal ’25.

Connectivity remains a key focus for fiscal ’25 and beyond. SFD is expanding telecom infrastructure, including new cell towers to improve coverage on installations, and enhanced Wi-Fi and broadband in barracks, common areas and Exchange facilities.

We’re reimagining some businesses by looking at different ways of doing beauty shops and alterations and laundry and dry cleaning. Some of those businesses that have been our bread and butter, and we have to learn how to reinvent them for today.

What do you hope to bring to your new role?

I hope to bring the spirit of collaboration, the spirit of possibilities. My SFD family members are outstanding. They have complex portfolios, hundreds of years of knowledge and skills necessary to grow sales and earnings. Everybody brings their own different twist, and everybody’s here because their commitment to our mission of service. Everybody has defined their superpower and what they do best to contribute to the collective. So I’m excited about where we are headed.

The knowledge, skills and expertise of the SFD team are true game changers. Their passion for the mission and sincere desire to serve are the real keys to our success.

I’m incredibly proud to be part of the SFD Family. We are the best at what we do. We have the best customers, who deserve the best, and we want to ensure that we continue bringing them the very best.

Did you have any pre-Exchange jobs?

I’m from Chicago, which like many cities had a summer jobs program. When you went from middle school or eighth grade into high school, you were able to get a summer job. My first summer job was tutoring elementary school kids in reading and math. For a brief second, I thought I might want to be a teacher. After tutoring, it was a very brief second. I decided then that it takes special people to be teachers, and I didn’t think I had the skill set, which is interesting considering that coaching and mentoring has played a significant role in my Exchange career.

I also worked at Burger King and the clothing store Three Sisters, a former Chicago retail chain. Everything I did before joining the Exchange team, I use here.

What does family serving family mean to you?

It’s really about serving. For me, as a leader, my main role is to serve. Often people think leaders sit at the top, but I feel like I sit at the bottom because it’s my responsibility to hold my team up, and you have to hold it up from the bottom. Family serving family is about making sure as individuals we are good so we can all be good together.. As leaders, we can never lose that perspective.