• DALLAS
Randy Ramirez, the vice president (VP) of Human Resources (HR) Talent at the Army & Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES), announced his retirement after more than 40 years with the
Exchange.
THE ROAD TO HR
Ramirez, a military brat, joined the Exchange as a teenager on a part-time basis as a sales clerk at the Kirtland AFB, N.M., Mini-Mall, joining is mother as an AAFES employee.
Ramirez worked at the Kirtland AFB BX until 1985, moving up to a temporary retail supervisor position for a short while. Then his father — who served 30 years in the Air Force — received orders to Spain, and the younger Ramirez left Kirtland AFB to be with his family. But he stayed with the Exchange.
“It was an opportunity to see the world,” Ramirez said. “After I got to Spain, I was reinstated to the Exchange about three months after I left Kirtland.
“I worked in the jewelry and camera department at the main store at Torrejon Air Base, which is now closed. I started as an intermittent and then got reinstated, so I’m a testament to how the reinstatement program works.”
Ramirez worked at Torrejon AB until January 1988, when he had the opportunity to work in a civil service job with the Officer in Charge of Construction Contracts — Mediterranean (OICC-Med).
“I basically was a travel clerk/fax operator/Telex operator,” Ramirez said. “I was responsible for making sure that all the architects who worked on projects throughout the Mediterranean got their travel orders and that their tickets were paid for.”
That job lasted until August 1988, when Ramirez’s father received orders to return to Kirtland AFB.
After his family returned to Kirtland AFB, they were shopping at the Mini-Mall when some of the people who hired Ramirez, including Karen Miller, ran into him and asked him if he’d be interested in coming back.
He said, “Absolutely, I would come back to the Exchange,” and Ramirez was hired back in October 1988 as a laborer.
An opportunity to work at the West Side Shoppette opened up, and Ramirez moved into a sales associate role. The administration office was behind the store, and soon a general clerk job became available.
After an interview and a typing test, Ramirez was selected for the job.
GETTING TO HR
It turned out to be the move that would lead him to HR, which at the time was called Personnel. The Personnel clerk was about to PCS with her military spouse, so Ramirez applied for that job and was selected.
“The Personnel clerk job was where I grew to love HR,” Ramirez said. “I loved what I was doing. I felt like I was making a difference.
“Associates would come see me for help with technical stuff. A lot of their official personnel folders had to be reconstructed. I was the one who took care of that for 100 or so associates because they were so far behind.”
Through his HR manager at Kirtland AFB, Maureen Houghton, he was wait listed for the trainee program for Human Resources management.
Not too long after that, the Exchange created training instructor positions. The Kirtland AFB general manager (GM) wanted him for one of the instructor jobs. Houghton told him that he should take the job because it might lead to a management role, so he applied and was selected for a training instructor position.
After about a year and a half as a training instructor at Kirtland AFB, he PCS’d to Ellsworth AFB, S.D., where he was People Resources manager — his first HR manager job.
At Ellsworth AFB, Ramirez worked with GM Maggie Smith, who would later become Maggie Burgess and go on to become senior vice president (SVP) for the Pacific Region and later for the Sales (now Merchandising) Directorate.
He recalled, “She had all her general manager functions, but she was also working at the store, and you could tell she really loved it. And being there helped keep me involved in the retail arena, dealing with the customers and associates.”
Ramirez was almost persuaded to return to retail when he was contacted by Career Management and told about a people development and training specialist position in Okinawa, and he PCS’d to what was then known as the PACRIM Region office in August 1993.
He returned to the States to become HR manager at Keesler AFB, Miss., and he later PCS’d to the Eglin AFB, Fla., Exchange in late 1998, again as HR manager for Eglin/Hurlburt Field and Tyndall AFB.
The Eglin AFB facility turned out to be his last store, as in 2001, he moved here to AAFES headquarters, where he has been ever since.
VARIETY OF ROLES
Since 2001, Ramirez has worked in a variety of HR roles, including Career Management and Field Support, before becoming VP, HR Operations in August 2020 and then his current role as VP, HR Talent in January 2021.
His first headquarters assignment was HR manager/business partner for the Finance & Accounting Directorate.
“Where I felt like I’ve had the most impact is in my roles in Talent Management,” Ramirez said. “When you have associates who came to you for advice approach you years later and say, ‘Remember that career interview I had with you and you gave me advice? I just really want to acknowledge and appreciate you for that,’ I think those kind of things are what helped me get to where I wanted to be. It’s the small things along the way.
“I also get messages from people that give accolades to my Talent Management Team for similar types of things,” he added. “It makes me really proud to lead a group of people who have that kind of impact on the associates.”
RETIREMENT, LOOKING BACK
Ramirez said that he plans to spend more time with his family after he retires.
Looking back at his long career, he said that he has enjoyed every job he has had with the Exchange, and that he’s proud to have been part of the organization since 1983.
“People ask me, ‘Where do you work and what do you do and what does AAFES do?’,” he said. “Nobody in the world does what the Exchange does. I oversee our deployment volunteers. It’s a very noble cause, and people step up and volunteer.
“You’re not going to find any other organization where you’ll find someone to volunteer to stand next to troops in a war zone.
“I’m a military brat, but it’s as an Exchange associate that I really have come to appreciate what we do. If there’s anything I miss from being in the field, it’s working alongside the associates and our customers.
“I’ve always been a people person and have always been proud to say that nobody does what we do. Being able to say that means a lot to me.”
Source: AAFES
Edited by Larry Lapka
