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Costco warehouse store announced that its chief executive officer, Craig Jelinek, is stepping down on Jan. 1, 2024. He will be vacating his office after helping the company recover from the woes that resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic and inflation.
Jelinek has been serving as Costco's CEO for a long time now. He was first appointed in 2012, so he is leaving after over a decade of being at the helm.
The Leadership Shift at Costco
CNBC reported that while Jelinek is stepping down, he will not leave the company immediately. He is expected to stay until April of next year to ensure a smooth leadership transition at the company. He will be working with the team in an advisory role, and later, he is also planning to remain on Costco's board of directors, and the company confirmed this.
In 2022, the warehouse chain had about 66 million paid members and 119 million cardholders. This made it the largest membership club in the world. All the members pay for membership, which costs $60 for the regular option and $120 if they want an executive card. The fees cover a year of membership at Costco's clubs.
Introducing the Next Leader
The company's Board of Directors selected Ron Vachris to succeed Jelinek. He has served as president and chief operating officer since February 2022 and will transition to the CEO role early next year.
He is a veteran who has been working at Costco for more than 40 years now. His climb in the company ladder has been impressive because he started at the bottom before reaching the top today. Ron started as a forklift driver at the company and went on to get promotions to major executive roles at Costco's business operation and merchandising units.
"Costco has a very strong culture and a deep bench of management talent," Craig Jeline said in a press release. "I have total confidence in Ron and feel that we are fortunate as a Company to have an executive of his caliber to succeed me."
Photo by: Marcus Reubenstein/Unsplash
