The United States has appointed Joseph Jeu to head the Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA), making him the first ethnic Korean to be appointed as a chief of a federal agency in the U.S.

Jeu was appointed on January third to the post of director and chief executive officer of DeCA, which operates a worldwide commissary chain to provide groceries to military personnel.

The agency employs 18-thousand people and runs on an annual budget of seven-point-three billion dollars. He is a tier three senior executive, one of only 45 defense leaders to be so designated. In the Department of Defense leadership structure, a tier three senior executive equates to the rank of a three-star flag officer.

The 58-year-old Jeu was born in South Korea in 1952 and immigrated to the U.S. at age 15. He has worked in the defense logistics industry for 30 years.