Joe Faris assumed his current position as acting deputy commander in September 2025 and as director of Future Plans for DLA Distribution in Nov. 2010. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration (magna cum laude) from Waynesburg College in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania. Upon graduation from college, he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps.
A lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve, Faris’ first assignment was with the 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne) at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where he served as a detachment commander, battalion logistics officer, and support company commander. During this tour, he deployed on several operational missions into the U.S. Southern Command area of responsibility, including Operation Safe Border.
After graduating from the Combined Logistics Officer Advanced Course, he was selected for a one-year Training with Industry benchmark tour at Walmart Stores in Bentonville, Arkansas, where he worked for the vice president of Logistics and benchmarked best-business practices in Walmart’s distribution and transportation divisions.
Faris was assigned to DLA Distribution after is tour with Walmart, and was selected as the aide-de-camp, providing administrative and operational support to the DLA Distribution commander. His next assignment was support operations officer at DLA Distribution Susquehanna, Pennsylvania, where he worked on the DLA Distribution Susquehanna, Pennsylvania, 2001 project that single-sited workload and improved efficiency at DLA Distribution Susquehanna, Pennsylvania.
After transferring to the reserve component, he was mobilized to the DLA Distribution Future Operations directorate as a strategic plans officer after the events of Sept. 11, 2001. In that capacity, he worked as the DLA Distribution liaison officer to U.S. Central Command and assisted in the development of the DLA Distribution support plan for Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom.
After leaving active duty, Faris returned to his civilian career as a strategic plans representative in DLA Distribution’s Future Plans directorate where he was responsible for the planning, development, and establishment of DLA Distribution’s forward distribution sites in Kuwait and Korea.
Faris served as the deputy chief of the Operations Division from 2004 to 2008. In this position, he was responsible for current operations, re-competitions, and new distribution center implementations and was the contracting officer for Most Efficient Organization centers.
Prior to assuming his current position, he was the deputy director of Distribution Operations for DLA Distribution from Feb. 2008 to Nov. 2010.
In Jan. 2009, Faris was mobilized as the DLA liaison officer for the Central Command expansion in Southern Afghanistan, where he provided input on the DLA support plan for a multiple-Forward Operating Base expansion in the Kandahar and Helmand Provinces.
Faris is also a graduate of the U.S. Army Command & General Staff College, Combined Arms Services Course, Combined Logistics Officer Advanced Course, Quartermaster Officer Basic Course, Airborne, Rigger, Jumpmaster, and Pathfinder courses.
His military decorations include the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Joint Meritorious Service Medal, Joint Commendation Medal, Army Meritorious Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal and Army Achievement Medal, and the DLA Meritorious Civilian Service Award. He was also the 1997 Combined Arms Support Command Award winner.