Firm turns complicated data into revenue streams

Michael Peterman has had a long love affair with data. “Data to me is currency,” he says. “Information is the currency of the future for business, and if you’re not on the curve, you’re going to get smoked.”

For the past decade, Peterman has been helping to lead that curve as founder and CEO of VeraData. The Fort Myers–based decision science company uses machine learning to analyze data to help its predominantly nonprofit clients make better decisions around —and improve the results of — their marketing and fundraising efforts. It currently works with more than 300 nonprofits including the American Indian College Fund and National Children’s Cancer Society, and Peterman expects to add at least 20 new nonprofits to his client roster annually for the next several years.