Michael L. Chasen, CEO and co-founder of Blackboard Inc., has been named the new chairman of the Washington, D.C., Technology Council. Blackboard, an enterprise software company, is one of the District’s most successful tech start-ups and often held up by the Tech Council as a success story.
Chasen will replace Chairman John Sanders, who is stepping down to spend more time at his home in Myrtle Beach, S.C., where he runs a consulting firm and a foundation, a Tech Council spokeswoman said.
Blackboard offers two separate software suites that enable educational institutions to integrate multiple services for students, teacher and faculty. For example, its online course management program allows teachers to post course materials for students and interact via the Web.
Founded in 1997, the company now has about 800 employees — 350 of them in the District — and last year brought in more than $120 million in revenue. Revenues for fiscal 2006 are projected to be nearly $160 million.
In his role as chairman of the Tech Council, Chasen said he’ll work to promote the benefits of starting a technology company in D.C., a location that often gets overshadowed by Northern Virginia and Maryland.
“We think it’s a big draw to be downtown,” Chasen said. Much of our success comes from “the fact that we’ve been able to tap a talented group of individuals … because of our location we’re able to draw people in from Maryland, Virginia and D.C.”
The Tech Council represents the interests of about 150 member companies.
“One goal of the D.C. Tech Council is to use [our] voice to facilitate business in the nation’s capital,” said Penny Pickett, Tech Council president. “Blackboard has been a valued member company in the council since our founding. With Michael’s leadership, we are looking forward to enhancing and expanding on all our goals.”
