In 2007, as undergraduates, we started a student government project to lower the cost of textbooks through price comparison. The goal was to help fellow students find their course materials at the lowest cost. To accomplish this, my classmates and I built a price comparison tool that collected a small affiliate fee from retailers each time a transaction was completed. In addition to saving students money on their course materials, we used the proceeds from those affiliate fees to help build a school in Zambia.
Ryan Petersen

Ryan Petersen is the VP of general administration for Verba Software, a VitalSource company. One of the founders of Verba, Ryan worked with classmates on what began as a student government project to help Harvard students get the best value in course materials. Since graduation, Ryan has helped Verba grow into one of the leading innovators in the college store industry, serving over 300 college stores with price-transparent shopping interfaces, faculty course discovery tools, and sophisticated marketplace analytics. Verba products are helping independent college stores stay relevant and competitive in an increasingly challenging environment.
Ryan is a graduate of Harvard University with a concentration in History.
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