Costco has promoted Ron Vachris as president and chief operating officer as of the beginning of February.
Vachris assumed the position effective on Wednesday, February 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.
Jelinek has been in charge of the retailer since 2012 and has guided it through a time of significant expansion, which has increased during the pandemic.
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Jelinek worked as Costco's COO for two years before becoming the company's CEO.
He has been president since February 2010.
Costco's net sales grew 18 percent to $192 billion in fiscal 2021, while net income was $5 billion.
Costco, which discloses monthly sales, reported a 14 percent gain in same-store sales across its 828 warehouse shops, including 572 in the United States, in January.
Costco's top executives have a track record of staying in their positions for a long time. Jim Sinegal, a co-founder, served as CEO for more than two decades before stepping down to allow Jelinek to take over.
Jelinek has been with the company since 1984, just one year after its inception.
In a joint interview with Retail Leader in 2017, Vachris and Jelinek noted that they prudently develop buyers and prefer a hands-on approach to running the company.
He said: "We really run the company from being in the field.
"You may see things in the office, and we meet with a lot of suppliers and things look a certain way, but when you get out in the warehouse, that is where you get a sense of how it is really presenting, what is the response from the members, what are you hearing from the managers, how do the packaging, sizing and colors look."
Costco's whose headquarters are in Issaquah, Washington and employs 254,000 full and part-time employees worldwide.
