Barnes & Noble CEO resigns

NEW YORK — Barnes & Noble CEO and director William Lynch has resigned, effective immediately, and the company has restructured its leadership team as a result.

The company has appointed Michael P. Huseby as CEO of Nook Media and president of Barnes & Noble. Max J. Roberts, CEO of Barnes & Noble College will continue to lead the digital education strategy and report to Huseby, as will the executive management team of Nook Media. Huseby and Mitchell Klipper, CEO of the Barnes & Noble Retail Group, will report directly to Leonard Riggio, executive chairman of Barnes & Noble.

The company has also promoted Allen Lindstrom, VP and the company’s corporate controller, to CFO of Barnes & Noble. He will report to Huseby. Kanuj Malhotra, VP of corporate development, has been promoted to CFO of Nook Media.

“We thank William Lynch for helping transform Barnes & Noble into a leading digital content provider and for leading in the development of our award-winning line of Nook products,” said Riggio. “As the bookselling industry continues to undergo significant transformation, we believe that Michael, Mitchell and Max are the right executives to lead us into the future.”

Riggio added that the company is in the process of reviewing its current strategic plan and will provide an update when appropriate.

“I appreciate the opportunity to serve as CEO of this terrific company throughout the last three years,” said Lynch. “There is a great executive team and board in place at Barnes & Noble, and I look forward to the many innovations the company will be bringing to its millions of physical and digital media customers in the future.”

Huseby joined Barnes & Noble as CFO in March 2012, and has led the company’s financial organization since that time. Prior to joining Barnes & Noble, he had a distinguished career in the media communications industry having most recently served as EVP and CFO of Cablevision Systems Corporation, a leading telecommunications and media company. Huseby also served in leadership positions at Charter Communications, the fourth largest cable operator in the U.S., as well as AT&T Broadband, a provider of cable television services.

Lindstrom joined Barnes & Noble in November 2007 as VP, corporate controller. Prior to joining Barnes & Noble, he was CFO at Liberty Travel.

Malhotra joined Nook Media in May 2012 and in his role as VP of corporate development has been responsible for developing strategic priorities for growth and profitability. He was previously SVP and CFO at Affinion International.