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 (now KPMG Consulting), offered Chasen a job. Chasen and Pittinsky left KPMG in 1997 to launch their
e-learning 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. In 1998, the company merged with
CourseInfo LLC, a
software provider which had developed a platform for internet and networked learning, which they called a "Course Management System" platform. The combined company became known as
Blackboard Inc. Chasen became
chief executive officer (CEO) of Blackboard in 1999, as one of the youngest CEOs of a
publicly traded company when he orchestrated Blackboard's
initial public offering 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, Jay Bhatt was named as his successor. 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 in July 2013 == Awards and recognition ==