• The Seattle Times, Monday, April 11, 2011 9:45 AM

The head of Costco may be president of a company with its eye on Paris and Madrid, but he likes hot dogs as well as the next guy. Craig Jelinek could be in line to take co-founder Jim Sinegal's CEO title should Sinegal retire. He also doesn't often speak to the press and adheres to the company's focus on tortoise-style patience.

Jelinek started at Costco in 1984, and has opened stores, overseen the Northwest region and led merchandising. In a speech at Seattle University where he became trustee recently, he said he could never replace Sinegal, but that he has some assets of his own: he knows Costco's culture, empowers employees, and puts his pants on one leg at a time, "like everyone else."

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