SAN MATEO, CA -- (Marketwire) -- 01/31/13 -- Rafter, the leader in course materials management software, today announced that it has appointed Charles Ferer as the company's chief financial officer (CFO). Ferer brings more than 20 years of experience in financial operations and corporate finance, at both Fortune 500 and emerging technology companies. Ferer will play an instrumental role in helping Rafter into its next phase of expansion.

"Now is a fantastic time to join Rafter. The company is working with schools to make sense of the deep, complex issues facing higher education today," said Charles Ferer, CFO of Rafter. "As a parent and a business person, I understand the financial burden that the skyrocketing costs of higher education can place upon a family as well as the impact it has on our economy. I'm eager to help expand upon Rafter's efforts in this regard and help strengthen their mission of partnering with schools to make higher education more affordable, accessible, and effective to the benefit of their students."

Prior to joining Rafter, Ferer served executive roles at a number of high-growth technology companies, including serving as the CFO of SolarCity (NASDAQ: SCTY), a national leader in clean energy services, and president of EchoFirst, a top solar energy company. He brings to Rafter a proven track record of success, including raising multiple structured finance funds totaling more than $700 million, which enabled the introduction of consumer leasing programs at three companies, and now accounts for more than 70 percent of industry sales. Prior to his experiences in the solar industry, Ferer held several senior posts at Fortune 100 corporations such as PepsiCo, Transamerica and the GAP.

"Rafter is growing rapidly in one of the largest and fastest changing segments of the US economy -- Education. Educational institutions are actively rethinking how to offer their products, how to finance themselves, and how to bring about overall efficiency to their programs," said Mehdi Maghsoodnia, Rafter's CEO. "Charles is the perfect candidate to help the Rafter team and its growing list of more than 300 institutional partners tackle the issues of affordability, accessibility and scale. In the past 15 years, Charles has worked on helping companies find creative strategies to enable the growth. His brain and creative mind join our dynamic team at Rafter."

Rafter is one of the fastest growing education technology companies nationwide, serving over 1.2 million students, saving them more than $250 million in cash and financial aid, and partnering with more than 300 schools.

About Rafter
Rafter is a complete, cloud-based course materials platform that is modernizing the entire educational content ecosystem, from author to student and everything in-between, to make educational content more affordable, effective, and accessible. The company is revolutionizing the way students and schools find, source, and control course materials -- the second largest educational cost behind tuition -- with more than 300 colleges and universities already running on Rafter and saving students more than $250 million in cash and financial aid. By delivering superior service to students and educators, schools on Rafter are increasing graduation rates, differentiating their offerings, and elevating their overall quality of education. Rafter also operates BookRenter.com, a destination site for students to rent textbooks at up to 80 percent off the retail price. Rafter is a venture-backed, privately held company headquartered in Silicon Valley, California. To learn more, visit www.rafter.com.