In 2005 the First Book Marketplace was named a Grand Prize winner of the Yale School of Management - Goldman Sachs Foundation Partnership on Nonprofit Ventures’ National Business Plan Competition for Nonprofit Organizations.

Two weeks ago First Book Senior Vice President Chandler Arnold and Director of Stakeholder Outreach Zanna Gilbert returned to the Yale School of Management to present the Marketplace as a case study.

“Just six weeks into my new job at First Book I had the honor of returning to the Yale School of Management, my alma mater, to talk about the First Book Marketplace with students in Sharon Oster’s Nonprofit Management class.

It was fun to see some old classmates in the crowd, many of them tan from exotic spring break trips to places such as Colombia, Egypt, France, and Cambodia. Chandler and I were intrigued to once more put on our “MBA student hats” as Sharon taught the First Book Marketplace case that morning, and appreciated the insightful comments and analysis from the students.

For the “show and tell” part of class, I brought the First Book Marketplace story up-to-date from when the case was written in 2005 and left the heavy lifting to Chandler, who added his veteran insider perspective to issues that were raised during the class discussion and then fielded questions. Especially because being a graduate student was such a recent role for me, I clearly remember how great it was to be able to hear about business successes and challenges straight from the decision makers themselves.

I’m looking forward to returning again next year!”