Blackboard to be Honored at Early Stage East Venture Capital Conference

Sept. 25, 2012 - PRLog -- WILMINGTON, DE  - Early Stage East (ESE), the leading venture capital conference on the East Coast, is proud to announce that technology powerhouse Blackboard will be presented the Legendary Alumni Award at the 15th anniversary Early Stage East ‘Club Pitch’ venture capital conference on October 4th in Philadelphia, PA, for its growth and industry leadership over the last decade.

Blackboard CEO Michael L. Chasen will also serve as the conference Keynote and share personal stories of the company's journey with the future of information technology, social enterprise and social media entrepreneurship community that will be in attendance.  

As the premiere education and learning technology company in the world, Blackboard has revolutionized the industry with its forward-thinking, manageable, and multi-platform solutions for students and educators across the globe.  Blackboard is now powering thousands of institutions of higher education, career colleges, K-12 schools, associations, corporations and government organizations.

"We're so thrilled to honor the success of Blackboard with the Legendary Alumni Award," stated David J. Freschman, Chairman and Founder of Early Stage East.  "As one of the premier ESE success stories, Blackboard is a great example of how an idea attracted institutional funding at Early Stage East and began its journey from pioneer to global platform company."

Chasen and Blackboard’s co-founder, Matthew Pittinsky, were officially introduced to the investment community as one of the first presenting groups at the inaugural Early Stage East Venture Conference in 1998.  After introducing Blackboard and presenting the opportunity, the company filed its initial round of institutional venture capital from Novak Biddle Venture Partners, Internet Capital Group and Aurora Funds.

“Early Stage East was an important part of how we started out so successfully,” said Chasen. “I’m excited to come back to this year’s conference and to share experiences and insights that may be useful to a new generation of entrepreneurs and startups.”  

As chief executive officer for Blackboard, Chasen has taken the company from a start-up to a multi-million revenue generating company whose solutions are used by millions of people around the world.  During his tenure, Chasen has overseen the day-to-day operations of the company while also significantly expanding Blackboard’s services and offerings.

For more information on the 15th anniversary Early Stage East venture capital conference, visit earlystageeast.org.