Ben Nelson: Founder of Minerva University, the Innovative Campus-less College

Ben Nelson is the Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Minerva Project, a mission-driven organization dedicated to providing an Ivy League-quality education at an affordable price. As the CEO of Minerva Project, Nelson collaborated with the Keck Graduate Institute (KGI), a member of the Claremont Colleges consortium, to establish Minerva Schools at KGI.

Prior to founding the Minerva Project, Nelson was widely recognized as the President of Snapfish, an online photo hosting and printing service, leading up to its acquisition by HP. Joining Snapfish in 1999, he was instrumental in steering the company toward profitability by November 2000 and guiding its sale to District Photo in 2001. Starting in 2002, Nelson served as the CFO and primary business strategist for Snapfish. He was appointed President in March 2005, just before Hewlett-Packard acquired the company, and continued to lead the organization as an HP subsidiary.

Before his tenure at Snapfish, Nelson served as the President and CEO of Community Ventures. He also helped launch the Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) practice at Dean & Co., a premier strategy consulting firm, where he focused on transactions within the competitive telecommunications services industry. Additionally, Nelson assisted Disney Regional Entertainment for the Walt Disney Company in Asia and supported SmithKline Beecham in its initial foray into the internet sector.