Michael Chasen is an American businessman. He is a co-founder and former CEO of

Blackboard Inc. Blackboard Inc. was an American educational technology company with corporate headquarters in Reston, VA. It was known for Blackboard Learn, a learning management system. It merged with Anthology in late 2021, with the future name of the combin ...

, a position he held from 1999 to 2012. In April 2013, Chasen co-founded SocialRadar, a technology

startup A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable business model. While entrepreneurship refers to all new businesses, including self-employment and businesses that never intend t ...

company developing a location-based social app. In 2020, he co-founded ClassEDU, the maker of Class For Zoom, which aims to improve the effectiveness of

Zoom Zoom may refer to: Technology Computing * Zoom (software), videoconferencing application * Page zooming, the ability to magnify or shrink a portion of a page on a computer display * Zooming user interface, a graphical interface allowing for image ...

-based remote learning.

Early life

Michael Chasen grew up in

Cheshire, Connecticut Cheshire ( ), formerly known as New Cheshire Parish, is a town in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. At the time of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population of Cheshire was 28,733. The center of population of Connecti ...

. He developed an interest in computers at age 10, and he began writing programs on his father's Radio Shack TRS Model III. He later used his skills to offer local businesses computer consulting while still in school. Also during high school, he was an active member of

BBYO BBYO (formerly ''B'nai B'rith Youth Organization Inc.'') is a Jewish teen movement, organized as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and headquartered in Washington, D.C. The organization is intended to build the identity of Jewish teens and offer l ...

(B'nai B'rith Youth Organization). Chasen attended

American University The American University (AU or American) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Its main campus spans 90 acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, mostly in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest D.C. AU was charte ...

and completed a degree in

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...

in three years, graduating in 1993. While at American, Chasen worked part-time doing technology work for the

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...

. He met future Blackboard co-founder Matthew Pittinsky in the American University dorms when Pittinsky wanted to borrow Chasen's

laser printer Laser printing is an electrostatic digital printing process. It produces high-quality text and graphics (and moderate-quality photographs) by repeatedly passing a laser beam back and forth over a negatively-charged cylinder called a "drum" to d ...

. Following his undergraduate degree, Chasen earned an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

with a focus in

accounting Accounting, also known as accountancy, is the measurement, processing, and communication of financial and non financial information about economic entities such as businesses and corporations. Accounting, which has been called the "languag ...

from

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

McDonough School of Business The Robert Emmett McDonough School of Business, commonly shorted to the McDonough School of Business and abbreviated as the MSB, is the business school of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1957, it grants both undergraduate and ...

in 1995.

Career

Early career

While still at Georgetown, Chasen was inspired by the application process to multiple undergraduate and MBA programs to start Search and Apply Group, a company that offered a computer application allowing colleges to accept online applications. After hearing about Search and Apply Group, Greg Baroni, who was Matthew Pittinsky's manager at

KPMG Peat Marwick KPMG International Limited (or simply KPMG) is a multinational professional services network, and one of the Big Four accounting organizations. Headquartered in Amstelveen, Netherlands, although incorporated in London, England, KPMG is a netw ...

(now KPMG Consulting), offered Chasen a job. In 1996, Chasen left law school after completing one year to join KPMG as a consultant in the Higher Education Group. During their time at KPMG, Chasen and Pittinsky observed that colleges were investing in connecting classrooms and dormitories to the Internet, but there was a gap in the adoption of

software Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. At the lowest programming level, executable code consists ...

to aid learning. Chasen and Pittinsky left KPMG in 1997 to launch their

e-learning Educational technology (commonly abbreviated as edutech, or edtech) is the combined use of computer hardware, software, and Education sciences, educational theory and practice to facilitate learning. When referred to with its abbreviation, edt ...

business. In an oft-cited anecdote, Baroni allowed them to borrow their computers while they got themselves set-up, a situation that Chasen and Pittinsky used to then steal their office chairs.

Blackboard

Chasen and Pittinsky founded Blackboard LLC, a consulting company developing IMS (Instructional Management System) standards for elearning based on a contract from EDUCOM and the National Learning Infrastructure Initiative, in 1997. In 1998, the company merged with

CourseInfo LLC CourseInfo LLC, one of the two companies forming Blackboard Inc. was founded in 1997 by Daniel Cane and Stephen Gilfus while at Cornell University. They joined together to officially form the partnership known as CourseInfo and developed the ...

, a

software provider A software publisher is a publishing company in the software industry between the developer and the distributor. In some companies, two or all three of these roles may be combined (and indeed, may reside in a single person, especially in the case ...

which had developed a platform for internet and networked learning, which they called a "Course Management System" platform. The combined company became known as

Chasen became chief executive officer (CEO) of Blackboard in 1999, as one of the youngest CEOs of a

publicly traded company A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) company can be listed on a stock exchange (l ...

when he orchestrated Blackboard's

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...

in 2004. By 2012 Blackboard had grown to more than 3,000 employees with 20,000 clients in over 65 countries, and earning $600 million in revenue, and Chasen announced he would be stepping down as the CEO of Blackboard. Jay Bhatt was named as his successor.

SocialRadar

In 2013, Chasen founded SocialRadar, a D.C.-based mobile startup focused on building a

social location Social position is the position of an individual in a given society and culture. A given position (for example, the occupation of ''priest'') may belong to many individuals. Definition Stanley Wasserman and Katherine Faust Stanley cautioned th ...

app for

smartphone A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, whic ...

s and

Google Glass Google Glass, or simply Glass, is a brand of smart glasses developed and sold by Google. It was developed by X (previously Google X), with the mission of producing an ubiquitous computer. Google Glass displays information to the wearer using ...

. He is the CEO of the new company. In June 2013, it was reported that Chasen had secured $12.75 million in a first round of investments. SocialRadar's app was planned to enter

beta testing Software testing is the act of examining the artifacts and the behavior of the software under test by validation and verification. Software testing can also provide an objective, independent view of the software to allow the business to apprecia ...

in July 2013 and was initially developed for iPhone, followed by Android and Glass. On January 30, 2014, SocialRadar was released to the Apple AppStore.

Awards and recognition

Chasen was included in ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

’'' list of “America's 15 Most Powerful CEOs 40 And Under” and ''Washington SmartCEO'' named Chasen as its first CEO of the Year in 2006. Other recognition received by Chasen includes being named Ernst & Young's "Entrepreneur of the Year for Emerging Companies in Washington, D.C." and being honored as a "Young Innovator" by the Kilby Foundation. Chasen was listed by ''Washington Techway Magazine'' as one of D.C.'s "most-admired bosses" and was featured in ''Washington Business Forward's'' list of the Washington, D.C. area's "rising stars".

Investments

Chasen is an active angel investor. His portfolio includes Parchment, EverFi, and several others. After announcing his departure from Blackboard, it was reported that Chasen would be pursuing additional investment opportunities.

Personal life

Chasen lives in

Bethesda, Maryland Bethesda () is an unincorporated, census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland. It is located just northwest of Washington, D.C. It takes its name from a local church, the Bethesda Meeting House (1820, rebuilt 1849), which in ...

with his wife Randi and three children.

References

External links

SocialRadar websiteClassEDU website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chasen, Michael American technology chief executives American University alumni Angel investors Living people McDonough School of Business alumni Businesspeople from Washington, D.C. Businesspeople from Connecticut Year of birth missing (living people) People from Cheshire, Connecticut