A month after announcing the appointment of Ron Vachris as its new chief exec, wholesale retailer Costco on Tuesday has announced the imminent departure of longtime chief financial officer Richard Galanti.

The retailer said that Galanti has confirmed his intention to step down as chief financial officer effective 15 March, with Gary Millerchip, finance chief at supermarket operator Kroker, to replace him on the same day. Millerchip previously spent more than two decades in banking, most recently at NatWest.

Galanti served as Costco’s finance chief for more than 30 years, and will remain with the company until the end of January 2025 in an advisory role to assist through the transition.

The company’s chief exec Vachris said: “Over his nearly forty-year tenure as chief financial officer at the company Richard has made innumerable and invaluable contributions to its success. He is widely known, admired, and respected among our shareholders, employees, business partners, and others. We express our deepest gratitude for his long and loyal service.”

Costco currently operates 874 warehouses, including 602 in the US and Puerto Rico, 108 in Canada, 40 in Mexico, 33 in Japan, 29 in the UK, 18 in Korea, 15 in Australia, 14 in Taiwan, six in China, four in Spain, two in France, and one each in Iceland, New Zealand and Sweden. Costco also operates e-commerce sites in the US., Canada, the UK., Mexico, Korea, Taiwan, Japan and Australia.

---