Robert J. Bianchi, Rear Admiral, Supply Corps, U.S. Navy (Ret.) is the Chief Executive Officer for the Navy Exchange Service Command (NEXCOM), a $2.5 billion organization that oversees worldwide operations of Navy Exchange retail stores, Ship’s Store Program, Navy Uniform Program Management Office, Navy Clothing and Textile Research Facility, Telecommunications Program Office and the NEXCOM Hospitality Group, which supports PCS, TDY and leisure travel. In addition, he also currently serves as Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Manpower & Reserve Affairs) for Military Resale Transformation. 

Bianchi joined NEXCOM in January 2012 as its first civilian Chief Executive Officer after retiring from the U.S. Navy with more than 29 years of service. While in the Navy, he served in various senior leadership positions including Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff for Fleet Readiness and Fleet Supply Officer, U.S. Fleet Forces Command; Commander, NEXCOM; Deputy Commander for Aviation, Naval Inventory Control Point; Military Advisor to the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense (Logistics & Materiel Readiness); and Supply Officer, USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75).

From November 2017 to September 2020, while still retaining his position as NEXCOM CEO, Bianchi concurrently served as the Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA) Interim Director/Special Assistant for Commissary Operations to the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Manpower & Reserve Affairs). In this role, he exercised oversight authority and responsibility for the day-to-day management and control of 15,000 people employed at DeCA headquarters and at 239 commissaries in 13 countries, and managed an annual budget of $7 billion with annual sales of nearly $5 billion. 

A native of Vineland, N.J., Bianchi attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on a Navy ROTC scholarship, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in Mathematics. Upon graduation in 1982, he was commissioned as an Ensign in the U.S. Navy Supply Corps. He earned a Master’s degree in Business Administration with distinction from Harvard University in 1992, and completed the Wharton School of Business Executive Development Program in 2003.

Bianchi was awarded the DoD Distinguished Civilian Service Award in November 2019 and the American Logistics Association Distinguished Service Award in October 2021. His military awards include the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Legion of Merit (three awards), the Meritorious Service Medal (six awards), the Joint Service Commendation Medal, the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal (two awards), and the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal (two awards).

                                                                                                                              May 2024