Nook Media has appointed two outside executives to its management team, putting them in charge of two distinct areas. Mahesh Veerina will become COO on October 7 and Doug Carlson has been named executive v-p of digital content and marketing, effective immediately.
Veerina will oversee all of Nook Media operations, including software engineering, hardware engineering, IT, digital services, device operations, research & development, device product management, and user interaction & design. Carlson will oversee digital content, Nook Press™, Nook marketing, as well as Nook Media creative services. Carlson has over 33 years of experience at companies in digital publishing, hospitality, beverage, ski resorts and real estate and has worked with B&N is the past. As executive chairman and managing director for the digital magazine newsstand Zinio, he partnered with Barnes & Noble.com to launch the company’s online “See Inside” digital book preview feature which was delivered through Zinio’s digital reader technology. Carlson also worked with B&N when Nook was launched in 2009, providing back-end support for the Nook Newsstand.
Veerina is a longtime Silicon Valley entrepreneur and technology executive with over 24 years experience in building and operating technology companies from early stage through the growth stage. In addition, he has led and re-engineered large teams at companies such as Nokia and Motorola. Prior to joining Nook Media, Veerina founded several companies, including Azingo, Inc., a mobile software technology company he sold to Motorola in 2010. He then joined Motorola and until 2012 led the global software and cloud services team of over 2,500 engineers at Motorola Mobility.
Both men will report to Michael P. Huseby, president of Barnes & Noble, Inc. and CEO of Nook Media.
