Costas graduated from the University of Delaware in 1979 with a degree in political science, and received his MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College in 1981 with a concentration in finance.
Having joined as an trainee, Costas rose through the ranks and eventually became Co-Global Head of Fixed Income and a member of the Investment Bank's executive committee.
[citation needed] In 1996, Costas left Credit Suisse First Boston to join the Union Bank of Switzerland as head of North American fixed income.
[4] Costas had followed a similar approach in building out the UBS fixed Income business, hiring over 500 sales and trading personnel and increasing revenues from $300 million in 1998 to over $3 billion by 2001.
[6] Among the bank's other major recruits during this period were Olivier Sarkozy, Morgan LeConey, Guy Phillips, Ben Lorello,[7][8] David Tcholakian, and Jeff McDermott.
[12][13] Costas' next venture was a start-up securities firm, The PrinceRidge Group LLC, which he founded with former DRCM executive Michael Hutchins.
PrinceRidge also employs approximately 25 investment bankers providing advisory and capital raising services to over 200 middle market clients.
He has also established the Costas Family Foundation with a similar mandate of supporting education for disadvantaged youth primarily in the United States.