Ron Vachris Named President and COO of Costco

Issaquah, Wash.-based Costco has promoted Ron Vachris to president and COO, an  8-K filing by the company on Feb. 3 reported. 

Vachris, 56, assumed the position effective Feb. 2. Craig Jelinek, who previously was president, will continue to serve as CEO and a member of the board of directors. Along with his appointment as president and COO, the board of directors elected Vachris as a “director to fill a newly-created vacancy on the board,” the filing said.

Since 2016, Vachris, had been EVP and chief operating officer of merchandising. He previously was SVP of real estate development, from August 2015 to June 2016. Prior to that position, from July 2010 to July 2015, he was SVP and general manager of Costco’s northwest region.

Costco recently earned the top spot on Qualtrics’ 2022 Experience Index, which was generated based on a survey of 4,000 U.S. consumers about their experiences with brands across 25 industries. And just last month the warehouse chain reported robust net sales for the first quarter of fiscal 2022, which increased 16.7%, to $49.42 billion, up from $42.35 billion for the year-ago period.

Last July, in a WGB article Vachirs said: “Our mission statement at Costco is to take care of our members. By finding solutions to deliver merchandise quickly and efficiently, we continue to offer our members value, convenience and member service.”

Costco currently operates 828 warehouses, including 572 in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, 105 in Canada, 40 in Mexico, 30 in Japan, 29 in the U.K., 16 in Korea, 14 in Taiwan, 13 in Australia, four in Spain, two each in France and China, and one in Iceland. Costco also operates e-commerce sites in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Mexico, Korea, Taiwan, Japan and Australia.