Putting his Fresno State education to good use

By Chhun Sun
The Collegian

Costas Christoulakis knew within the first three days of work at Gap Inc. that he wanted to stay with the company. He enjoyed the energetic atmosphere, the teamwork and the emphasis on delivering products to customers.

In 2004, he started out as a shift supervisor for the Pacific Northwest Distribution Center at Gap Inc. in Fresno. Now, he is the operation supervisor, the person in charge of about 45 people and shipping out clothes and accessories to about 300 Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic stores in the Pacific Northwest.

It all started when Christoulakis landed the internship through a program by the Craig School of Business, which was built to have students get a dose of working in a professional environment and at the same time, earn school credit.

With his experience, the 30-year-old Christoulakis said as of Friday he would be in attendance to talk about his work and recruit prospects at the campus career fair on Wednesday. Gap Inc. will be one of several businesses with booths at the event, which will be held at the University Student Union balcony.

“I was definitely impressed by the full speed and happy about teamwork and that the company was all about customer service. Their focus was about the people in the company and I could see that early on,” Christoulakis said in a phone interview.

Since joining the company, Christoulakis was also impressed by the contributions the company makes to the Fresno community.

Christoulakis said the most memorable of his volunteering experiences was when he read books to elementary students in Fresno.

But Christoulakis said he wouldn’t be in his current position if it weren’t for his time at Fresno State, where he was under the guidance of business professors Tomasz Wielicki and Joseph Penbera.

“I can tell you that pretty much if I didn’t have the right classes, I wouldn’t have the right resources for this job,” Christoulakis said.

Christoulakis also said he owes his success for his passion in logistics and business management, which he learned at Fresno State and in the U.S. Marines beforehand.

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