An official website of the United States government
A .mil website belongs to an official U.S. Department of Defense organization in the United States.
A lock (lock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .mil website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Article Display

Lakehurst NEXCOM store receives Bingham Award

  • Published
  • By Patty Odoardo
  • Lakehurst public affairs
Joint Base MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST --  In a Bingham Award Ceremony July 14, Richard Dow, Senior vice President Operations Group, Navy Exchange Service Command presented Capt. Phillip L. Beachy, Naval Air Engineering Station Lakehurst commanding officer, and Grace Runner, NEX store manager, the national 2009 Bingham Award. Established in 1979, the award recognizes the best stores in the NEXCOM system.

Unlike most awards, this award is presented to both the NEXCOM store manager and the base commanding officer with individual plaques to recognize the partnership that must exist in order to win this prestigious award for the store and the command.

Though not a familiar award to most customers, the Bingham Award is designed to recognize Navy Exchanges that have demonstrated excellence in customer service, operations and management. The Lakehurst NEXCOM store is one of 130 in the world-wide system.

The prestigious award is named after the late Capt. W.H. Bingham, SC, USNR. Captain Bingham had been the chief executive of the R.H. Macy's Company and then appointed by the Secretary of the Navy in 1946 to lead an advisory board to establish a Navy Exchange System.

Captain Bingham was appointed to develop a resale program to legitimize existing stores. He developed the Navy Ship Store Office that became the Navy Resales and Services Support Office in 1981. Ten years later, this became the Navy Exchange Service Command.

According to Mr. Dow, the award requires unswerving support for Sailors and their families. "Winners must have an unwavering, laser focus on Sailors and their families but also serve varied other customers. Leadership, staff and associates must understand customers are the reason the whole command exists."

To Mr. Dow, the NEXCOM is a crucial unfunded benefit for each servicemember and family and even funds morale welfare and recreation programs while saving customers an average of 24 percent on purchases.

At Lakehurst, the Navy exchange did $2 million in sales last year, an increase of 8 percent from the previous year. It supported community outreach programs, held targeted sales, supported INDOC's and health and safety fairs and went the extra mile in everything it did. As a result, it was first in customer evaluations in its North East and Capitol Region.

Through the support of the base public works department, the store expanded to provide additional uniform sales as its customer base expanded requiring support to other services.

For Mr. Dow, the ability of small stores to adapt is crucial because unlike the Air Force and Army with their emphasis on large stores, most of the Navy's stores are convenient but small.

Honorary citations were presented to Ms. Runner, Faye Dineros, Kevin Comer (district vice president and Wyatt Hill, small stores manager. The event ended with Captain Beachy presenting letters of appreciation to Manuel Amoyan, Karla Conforme, Pamela McAllister, Larry Powell. Ms. Dineros also received a Superior Accomplishment Recognition Award. Ms. Runner explained that NEXCOM Lakehurst is a team effort between managers, staff and associates that results in a job extremely well done.