Northeastern Junior Becomes First Student Bookstore CEO

Joe Friedman, a third-year business administration student at Northeastern University, wanted to be a CEO from a young age.

That opportunity came sooner than expected.

In July, Friedman became the first student CEO of Northeastern’s bookstore in Curry Student Center on the Boston campus. 

Friedman says he is excited about the experiential learning opportunity the co-op at the bookstore is providing and praises Northeastern’s coursework for preparing him for the role.

“With the management classes I’ve taken, almost everything I’ve learned, especially on the people side of it and the difficult conversations, and how to communicate within an organization, those classes have really helped me,” he says.

The bookstore is operated by Follett Higher Education, a leading campus retailer that serves more than 1,000 campuses across North America. To expand credit-bearing leadership opportunities for students, the company partnered with Saxbys, an experiential learning organization that runs a student-led coffee shop in EXP. Together, they launched a pilot program to place student CEOs in campus bookstores, beginning at Northeastern in the 2025-2026 academic year.

“Experiential learning is considered the heart of a Northeastern education thanks to the university’s co-op program,” says Stephen Bone, chief stores officer at Follett. “Our pilot program brings another immersive learning experience to expand the range of professional learning and experiential offerings available to Northeastern students.” 

As student CEO, Friedman oversees day-to-day operations, manages inventory and financials, interviews, hires and trains part-time student employees, builds a customer-focused culture and leads campus outreach.

“I didn’t think that in my first co-op as a management major I’m going to actually be interviewing people, let alone training them and … contributing to their growth,” Friedman says. “So it’s just really fun and it’s a great opportunity.”

Before officially starting on July 1, Friedman trained on a part-time basis at the store since April.

“He brought the right energy and interest in the role, and on leading of it he’s truly motivated. He wants this experience. He sees how this can set him up for success in his career,” says Ian Ingersoll, human resources business partner at Follett.

The bookstore sells everything from textbooks and course materials to Northeastern-branded apparel and accessories from more than a dozen brands, electronics, dorm supplies, first-aid kits, cleaning products, makeup and snacks. 

His responsibilities also include designing a special event to draw more foot traffic into the store.

In the mornings, Friedman usually processes online orders, then reviews financial reports and different metrics to spot trends in performance. Strong performance gets highlighted to his team, while gaps lead to additional training. 

“I have a lot of freedom throughout the day,” he says. “I am doing whatever I think is best for the most part.”

There is still a professional store manager on-site, says Ian Ingersoll, human resources business partner at Follett. He says the on-site manager guides and supports Friedman, while giving him an opportunity to be in the driver’s seat. The student CEO makes strategic decisions based on sales data and other reporting and learns from the results. 

Alongside the store manager, Friedman coordinates restocking, manages inventory with the warehouse and ensures new styles reach the floor without overwhelming staff. Sometimes, he even jumps on the cash register.

“Whatever I can do throughout the day to make things a little bit easier for my team, that’s where you can usually find me,” Friedman says.

The start of the semester has been especially hectic as students returned to campus and purchased course materials and Northeastern gear.

“The last month and a half or so it has just been a scramble to make sure the store is completely up to date and everyone’s trained,” Friedman says.

He has also learned a lot about visual marketing, he says, putting together displays that highlight certain products and drive their sales.

“Follett has always, for everything that they’ve asked me to do, given me an immense amount of support,” he says. “I have a giant team of people, not necessarily that I work with, but that I can reach out to and are willing to help me with any questions I have.”

Friedman grew up in Santa Barbara, California, where he played multiple sports, often coached by his father.

“I’ve just always been a leader on the team, a captain, especially in soccer and basketball, and then tennis as I got to high school,” he says. “It was the natural progression to management in college, that’s how I see it.”

Although unsure of his path after high school, he knew he wanted to learn people-oriented skills that could apply across industries.

“Management fits that perfectly,” he says.

His biggest takeaway from the co-op so far: The success of a business depends on the people who work for it and its culture.

“People run businesses,” Friedman says. “Making sure a team runs well, everyone’s on the same page, everybody’s happy and willing to come to work and bring in their best self — that’s what makes a business successful, and that’s something that this opportunity’s really opened my eyes to.”

His favorite part of the co-op has been watching student employees get more confident and grow.

Ingersoll says Friedman’s leadership has already made an impact.

“He’s performing excellent. His team loves him,” Ingersoll says. “Just by looking at the numbers, we actually have seen a jump since he became the student CEO. So what he’s doing with his strategies and what he’s putting together in the store seems to be really working, and speaking to the Northeastern community.”

Meanwhile, Follett is already looking for the next student CEO for spring 2026. The best candidate, Ingersoll says, should be curious, collaborative and student-centric.

“This is not an independent role,” he says. “It requires support and a team that is dedicated.”