125 Years of Family Serving Family – Santiago Garcia, director, IT
One in a series honoring the Exchange’s 125 years of family serving family
Santiago Garcia’s family roots at the Exchange and in the military run deep.
Nine members of Garcia’s family—his father, mother, an uncle, cousins, great-uncles, great-aunts—have worked or are working for the Exchange.
“With our core value family serving family, I believe it because I’ve lived it,” said Garcia, director of digital solutions at HQ, who is in his 19th year with the organization. “The Exchange has provided for my family long before I got here and even today continues to make my life better. Having other family members working at the Exchange and knowing we are helping each other provide for the military is an awesome feeling.”
Santiago Garcia, the Exchange’s director of digital solutions, has forged a 19-year career at the Department of Defense’s largest retailer.
Great-uncle Roberto “Red” Garcia became the first family member to join the Exchange, starting as a computer operator in 1969 and staying for 30 years. Santiago’s father, Jimmy, worked for the Exchange from 1988 to 2010 in the IT Directorate, while mom Rose served as a cashier at the Sheppard AFB Exchange while Jimmy was in Air Force tech training in 1978.
At the Dallas headquarters, cousin Steven Garcia is a freight rate technician in the Logistics Directorate, while second cousin Hali Mirowitz is a field accountant in Finance & Accounting.
“Knowing that the Exchange cares to take care of its own is beyond amazing,” Santiago said. “I’m lucky to be married with two kids. The Exchange has kept a roof over their heads, food in their mouths, and clothes on their backs.”
As for his military roots, his father served in the Air Force, grandfather in the Army, and other relatives as Airmen, Sailors and Marines.
Through the experiences of family members, Garcia said, he sees the many ways the Exchange gives back to military communities: providing dividends to Quality-of-Life programs, having associates who deploy with the Warfighters and offering customers the services that competitors cannot or will not.
“The military does so much for our country,” Garcia said. “Being able to make their lives better drives my results at work.”
