Barnes & Noble Education, Inc. announced that Kevin F. Watson has been named Chief Financial Officer, effective September 7, 2023. Mr. Watson will report directly to Michael P. Huseby, Chief Executive Officer, BNED. Mr. Watson is a seasoned executive with more than 20 years of global finance, accounting, capital markets, business transformation and transactional experience across diverse industries.

As CFO at Barnes & Noble Education, Mr. Watson will be responsible for the financial management of the Company, including leading the Accounting, Treasury, Tax, Financial Planning, Financial Operations, Internal Audit and Investor Relations teams. Prior to joining BNED, Mr. Watson served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for Paraco Gas Corporation, one of the privately held energy distributors and service providers in the United States. There, he oversaw finance, accounting, tax, internal audit, human resources, information technology, supply chain, business intelligence, risk management, and mergers and acquisitions. While at Paraco, Mr. Watson spearheaded strategic and transformative initiatives to pursue growth objectives, increase efficiencies and strengthen the company?s market share.

Before joining Paraco Gas in 2018, Mr. Watson successfully led select financing transactions such as a company leveraged buyout by a private-equity consortium, IPOs, spin-offs, mergers and acquisitions, and private and public debt financings on senior executive teams at Cablevision Systems Corporation, PanAmSat Corporation, and Entex IT Service. In addition, Mr. Watson held a variety of finance roles at MCI Telecommunications and Prudential Securities, Inc. Mr. Watson holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance from Iona University.