CourseSmart Expands Executive Team to Drive Momentum in Higher Education Marketplace

SAN MATEO, Calif., May 10 /PRNewswire/ -- CourseSmart, the nation's largest digital course materials supplier for Higher Education, today announced that in order to keep up with increasing student and faculty demand for its eTextbooks and eResources, the company has successfully filled new senior management positions. The company, which experienced 400 percent revenue growth last year, has appointed Jill Ambrose, as Senior Vice President of Consumer Commerce, Jim Ambach, as Vice President of Product Management, and Elana Dolberg, as Vice President of Product Catalog.  

"We're very pleased and fortunate to add Jill, Jim and Elana to the team. They are all recognized experts in their respective fields and will be instrumental in continuing our rapid growth, expanding our capabilities and supporting new business endeavors," said Sean Devine, CEO of CourseSmart. "Benefiting from their collective valuable experience, CourseSmart is well positioned to remain the industry's leader in providing digital course materials for the next generation of students and faculty."

Jill Ambrose brings a wealth of ecommerce experience from a distinguished career driving business growth and profitability. Prior to joining CourseSmart, Ambrose served as the chief marketing officer at CafePress, where she grew the business at three times the industry growth rate. Additionally, she has held leadership roles at GiftCertificates.com, Corbis, AVID Enterprises, The Walt Disney Company, Marshall Field's and Spiegel. At CourseSmart, Ambrose will focus on growing the student business and is currently tasked with the ensuring world-class design of the company's website in order to enhance the student ecommerce experience and optimize the site's usability.

Jim Ambach brings more than 10 years of experience building web-based products, most recently having served as vice president of product at Jigsaw.com. Ambach has also served in key leadership roles at a variety of companies in Silicon Valley including Netscape, AOL and eBay. At eBay he was responsible for product management on both the seller and buyer side of the eBay experience. In his new position at CourseSmart, he will work closely with Jill Ambrose to drive user experience, playing a pivotal role in shaping the company's product definition, interaction design and information architecture that results in delivering a winning ecommerce experience in the market.  He will also lead the development of the company's mobile strategy including its iPad application, a new version of which will be launching later this year, to ensure all CourseSmart users are able to take advantage of an optimized eTextbook experience through "eTextbooks on the iPad."  

Elana Dolberg, who is a 20-year veteran in the higher education industry, most recently was the Director of Online Student Marketing and Faculty Programs for Cengage Learning's iChapters.com eCommerce venture. Before that, she held other positions at Cengage Learning, Simon and Schuster's Higher Education group and Wadsworth Publishing. As the Vice President of Product Catalog, Dolberg will primarily focus on expanding the rapidly growing catalogue of eTextbooks and eResource materials, such as McGraw Hill Connect, WileyPLUS and Pearson MyLabs. Building upon CourseSmart's more than 10,000 titles currently available, Dolberg will work closely with publishers to continue to offer the materials that students demand in a digital format.  

Hundreds of thousands of students and more than a million faculty members are currently utilizing CourseSmart and taking advantage of the company's digital resources. With distribution agreements with more than 15 higher education publishers and nearly every core college textbook available as an eTextbook, CourseSmart is an ideal alternative for students.

About CourseSmart

CourseSmart provides eTextbooks and digital course materials that improve the educational process by offering students and instructors a unique combination of the right course material, anywhere, any-time access and a low cost. As the nation's largest digital course materials supplier, CourseSmart has a rapidly growing digital library of more than 10,000 core college textbooks, the same titles produced by major publishers in print and recommended by faculty across North America. The company's eTextbooks can be purchased for an average of 50% less than print texts and offer users the ability to print what they need as well as search and copy and paste features which help to streamline students' studies. Additional information can be found on the company's Web site: www.coursesmart.com.

SOURCE CourseSmart