Demos Parneros

Demos Parneros (born March 10, 1962) is an American businessman who was previously the chief executive officer of Barnes & Noble^[1] and president of North American retail and online at Staples Inc.^[2]

Born in Cyprus, Parneros moved to New York City when he was nine years old. He graduated from New York University with a Bachelor of Science degree in management.^[3]

Parneros began his career at Macy's Inc. and then held multiple management positions at Staples before joining Barnes and Noble in November 2016.^[4]

Parneros joined Staples in 1987 as general manager of its first store in New York City and worked in the company's human resources, marketing, merchandising and store operations divisions.^[5] In 2002, Parneros was appointed president of the company's U.S. Superstores and responsibility for over 1,000 locations.^[6] In 2012, Parneros was appointed president of Staples North American Stores’ 1,800 locations and the company's online business, Staples.com.^[7] Under Parneros, Staples launched its first omnichannel stores, customer kiosks that merged the company's retail and online product offerings.

Parneros served on the board of KeyBank from 2014 to 2018.^[8][9]

Parneros was appointed chief operating officer of Barnes & Noble in November 2016. In April 2017, he was appointed CEO, with responsibility for all company operations, including brick-and-mortar stores, merchandising, e-Commerce, publishing, IT systems and real estate.^[10][11] At the time, Barnes and Noble was searching for effective ways to compete with Amazon and strengthen its retail and digital Nook businesses.^[12] While the brick-and-mortar bookstore market stabilized, the company continued to experience sales and revenue declines. As part of Parneros’ turnaround strategy, Barnes & Noble designed and opened smaller store locations and refocused on book sales.^[13]

In 2019, the company opened its first five prototype stores, half the size of the traditional stores, to align with its omnichannel sales approach.^[14] Parneros was terminated in July 2018 for alleged violation of company policies.^[15] Parneros subsequently sued Barnes & Noble for breach of contract and defamation.^[16] In October 2020, Barnes & Noble and Parneros agreed to amicably settle the case with all claims dropped.^[17]

Parneros lives with his wife, Debbie, in Boston, Massachusetts. They have two children.