Hector Rivas

Hector Rivas is an American business executive and sports agent. He is best known for founding the online bookseller ThriftBooks, an online retailer of used books based in Auburn, Washington, and served as the company's chief executive for 10 years. He helped develop ThriftBooks into one of the largest online sellers of used books in the United States by 2009. The following year, in 2010, the company sold its 10 millionth book.

Rivas was named a candidate and semi-finalist for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in the Pacific Northwest region in 2011. ThriftBooks eventually secured major private equity backing and investment from KCB Management.

In July 2020, Rivas partnered with sports agent Henry Organ to co-found Disruptive Sports Agency. Rivas focuses on business development at the agency and is also its primary funder.

Rivas, a certified NFLPA agent, and his agency represent athletes in both the National Football League (NFL) and the NCAA. His agency Disruptive Sports regularly works in the Name, image, and likeness (NIL) area of college sports. The agency has worked with New England Patriots wide receiver Kendrick Bourne and other athletes, and signed collegiate athletes such as Ohio State tight end Gee Scott Jr.

Starting in 2023, Rivas has taken part in NIL discussion panels at Seattle University.

In 2024, Rivas represented former five-star recruit and Colorado Buffaloes cornerback Cormani McClain during his transfer to the Florida Gators.

Based on his previous experiencing developing data analysis tools for ThriftBooks, Rivas established a software platform called Nukleus, which centralizes athlete data including statistics, contact information, and contract values into a single system that can be used by sports agents, athletic teams, universities, and players. Nukleus is partly designed to address fragmented information management in college athletics, where NIL deal terms are typically kept confidential and not subject to the standardized disclosure requirements that apply in professional leagues such as the NFL. and is affiliated with the non-profit organization Wings of the Dawn. Rivas has also collaborated with the Minority Business Accelerator & Pitch Fund (MBAPF) to support various business initiatives.

Personal life Rivas is married with four children.