Barnes & Noble names a new IT leader

The instability in the executive suite at Barnes & Noble continues, as the retailer has named a new CIO just months after installing a new chief digital officer.



The retailer has named William Wood as its new CIO. Wood comes from EZCORP Inc., where he also served as chief information officer. He will report directly to Ron Boire, CEO.



“We are thrilled to welcome Bill to Barnes & Noble and are excited to have someone with such broad experience in Information Technology join the team,” said Boire. “Bill is a proven leader in this area and his appointment signals our continued commitment to being a leading omnichannel retailer.”



The company appointed current chief digital officer Frederic (Fred) D. Argir in July.



Wood joined EZCORP. in 2014 where he led an organizational transformation in Information Technology and was named “2015 Austin IT Executive of the Year” by the Austin Society for Information Management. He has held previous high-level IT roles at Bass Pro Shops, Brookstone, Inc. and Dollar General. He also serves as an advisory board member for several companies including Magnetify, Corporation and Zeppelin, Inc., and is a 10-year veteran of the United States Army.



For the current (2016) fiscal year, Barnes & Noble is guiding same-store sales approximately flat with the prior fiscal year, including Nook sales, and up about 1% excluding sales from its Nook business.



Earlier this month the retailer said same-store sales were up 1.1% in the current quarter through Black Friday. (That excludes Nook, which dragged overall sales down.) Boire said at the time that the company has to fix its online problems. Boire said the search functions need to improve on the BN.com site and that it needs a faster checkout experience. He stressed that online is a great opportunity for the company.



Barnes & Noble Inc. operates 647 Barnes & Noble bookstores in 50 states.