Eric Sidman Chief Merchandising Officer, Army & Air Force Exchange Service
Eric Sidman is an Executive Vice President and the Chief Merchandising Officer for the Army & Air Force Exchange Service (Exchange), at its headquarters in Dallas.
The Exchange is a non-appropriated fund entity of the Department of Defense. Established in 1895, the Exchange is the 54th largest retail organization in the U.S. With annual revenues of $8.5 billion, the Exchange employs approximately 26,000 associates, including military personnel.
In the last 10 years, the Exchange benefit has provided $3.7 billion in earnings for critical military Quality-of-Life programs such as outfitting more than 600,000 Warfighters at cost annually, providing school meal support for Department of Defense Education Activity facilities overseas and delivering needed services to locations impacted by natural disasters.
Sidman’s position is commensurate in rank to a member of the Senior Executive Service. Sidman provides vision and leadership in the planning and development of purchasing, pricing and merchandising strategies to support overall growth while maintaining focus on customers’ wants, needs and tastes.
The Exchange operates more than 5,500 facilities, including department and convenience stores, restaurants, malls, movie theaters, gas stations and other specialty retail businesses on military installations. The Exchange’s operations span the Nation, four U.S. territories and more than 30 countries. Additionally, the Exchange Credit Program manages a $1.9 billion credit card receivables portfolio.
To support readiness and provide foreign-based service members and their families with U.S. products, the Exchange operates bakeries in Europe and Asia and water bottling plants in Europe under 10 brand licenses from U.S. consumer goods companies, including Wonder Bread, Krispy Kreme and Culligan.
The Exchange recruits, hires, promotes and retains a diverse and inclusive workforce. A major employer of Veterans and military spouses, the Exchange has hired more than 2,100 Wounded Warriors since 2010 and more than 60,000 Veterans and military spouses since 2013.
A Florida native, Sidman earned a Master of Business Administration from Western Governors University and a Bachelor of Science in management information systems from the University of Central Florida.
He began his Exchange career in May 2007 as Planning, Allocation and Replenishment director at Exchange headquarters. In 2016, he was promoted to vice president of Store Experience and Design in the Customer Experience Directorate. He assumed the role of vice president of Consumables Convenience Channel Division the following year before being named senior vice president of Merchandising in October 2020.
Sidman was named to his current position in June 2024.