W. Craig Jelinek: Costco CEO

W. Craig Jelinek previously held various management positions with Fed-Mart and Gemco. He then joined Costco Wholesale Corporation in 1984. This move would set him up to eventually lead the company.

Among the positions he has held include being Vice President, Regional Operations Manager-Los Angeles Region from May 1986 to September 1994. Jelinek has served as an Executive Vice President and Chief Operation Officer of Merchandising of Costco Wholesale Corp. since September 1995 and February 2004 respectively.

He became the President in February 2010 of Costco Wholesale Corporation and Chief Executive Officer on January 2012.  Jelinek has been a director of the company since February 2010.

The company Jelinek heads is a member-only warehouse club that offers a wide selection of merchandise. As of July 2012, it is the second largest retailer in the United States, the seventh largest retailer in the world and the largest membership warehouse club chain in the United States.

Cheap is one of the words that Jelinek and the company adhere to. There is a no frills approach that he is keeping which has been the hallmark of the company’s success aside from good service. The company takes to heart of keeping the prices down and passing on the savings to members.

Under the Price Club name, the company opened its first location in a converted airplane hangar on Morena Boulevard in San Diego. It initially served small businesses then the company discovered it could produce greater buying power by also catering to a select audience of non-business members.

The first Costco warehouse location was opened in Seattle in 1983. The firm achieved a record by being the first company to ever grow from zero to  $3 billion in sales in less than six years. Price Club and Costco merged in 1993 and became known as PriceCostco.  The combined entity generated $16 billion in annual sales from 206 locations.

The Costco name was revived in 1997. Today the company that Jelinek leads has worldwide operations and in recent years had total annual sales greater than $64 billion.