Stephen Riggio

Stephen Riggio is the chief executive officer and vice chairman of Barnes & Noble, Inc. He also serves as a member of the company’s Board of Directors. Mr. Riggio, a 30-year veteran of the bookselling business, joined Barnes & Noble in 1975 after graduating from Brooklyn College. He started in the buying and merchandising departments of the 50-store company. From 1981 to 1987, he was vice president and general manager of Barnes & Noble’s direct mail division. During this time, Mr. Riggio also laid the foundations for the company’s entry into book publishing by establishing the Barnes & Noble Books imprint. After the acquisition of B. Dalton Booksellers in 1987, Mr. Riggio was appointed executive vice president of merchandising, responsible for the buying and marketing functions of the 800-store chain. In 1991, Mr. Riggio played an instrumental role in the conception, design and marketing campaign of Barnes & Noble’s strategy for book superstores. In 1995, he was appointed the company’s chief operating officer. While executing an aggressive retail expansion, Mr. Riggio alerted the company to the potential of electronic commerce. Barnes & Noble.com opened for business in March 1997 and has grown to become one of the largest e-commerce businesses in America. Mr. Riggio was appointed chief executive officer of Barnes & Noble, Inc. in February 2002. In January of 2003, Mr. Riggio expanded the company’s publishing operations with the acquisition of Sterling Publishers, one of the largest book publishers of how-to and reference books in the world. Sterling has an active list of more than 4,500 owned and distributed titles, and annually publishes and distributes more than 1,000 new titles. Mr. Riggio is a member of the Board of Directors of the National Book Foundation. As an advocate for people with developmental disabilities, he serves on the board of The Association for the Help of Retarded Children and the National Down Syndrome Society.