PrecisionHawk Appoints Blackboard Co-Founder and Former CEO Michael Chasen as New CEO

Former CEO and RedHat Co-founder Bob Young to Continue role as Chairman

News provided by

PrecisionHawk

Jan 25, 2017, 09:15 ET

RALEIGH, N.C., Jan. 25, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- PrecisionHawk, a provider of advanced commercial drone technologies, today announced that Michael Chasen has been appointed as the company's new chief executive officer (CEO). As a serial entrepreneur and veteran technology leader, Chasen brings more than 20 years of software experience to accelerate PrecisionHawk's rapid growth in the commercial drone market.

Chasen was named to the Forbes' 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 recognitions include being named Ernst & Young's "Entrepreneur of the Year for Emerging Companies in Washington, D.C.". 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".
Chasen was named to the Forbes' 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 recognitions include being named Ernst & Young's "Entrepreneur of the Year for Emerging Companies in Washington, D.C.". 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".

Michael Chasen was previously the CEO and co-founder of Blackboard, the global leader in education technology platforms.  Michael took Blackboard public in 2004 and eventually sold the company in 2011 to Providence Equity Partners for $1.7 billion.  Michael then was the CEO and founder of SocialRadar, a geo-location company that utilized satellite and street level imagery to determine the exact location of businesses. SocialRadar was acquired by Verizon in 2016.

"Michael is a talented and experienced CEO with remarkable success in architecting and scaling a technology platform," said Bob Young, PrecisionHawk Chairman and former CEO.  "Under his leadership, PrecisionHawk is well positioned to expand its technology offerings and optimize the integration of its platform into the existing business processes of its clients."

PrecisionHawk provides an enterprise platform that uses advanced drone technology to collect and analyze data to improve business intelligence. The platform includes automated flight planning, tracking, data collection, and analytics. PrecisionHawk's technology is used across multiple industries including agriculture, construction, energy, insurance and by the government. 

PrecisionHawk also serves as a key leader in shaping regulations and policies that promote the safe and rapid adoption of drones both through its work under the FAA Pathfinder program and development of its LATAS drone safety platform.

"Adoption of drone technology among major industries is growing at an incredible rate. By engineering an ecosystem that allows companies to gain valuable information, PrecisionHawk is at the forefront of one of the most important areas of technology innovation," said Chasen. "The PrecisionHawk team has all of the building blocks that are required to become the world leader in commercial drone technology, and I am looking forward to the growth and immense opportunity ahead."

About PrecisionHawk Inc.

PrecisionHawk is a leading provider of advanced commercial drone technologies. The company, founded in 2010, is privately held and located in Raleigh, NC and Toronto, Canada. PrecisionHawk's client list of Fortune 500 companies and market-leading innovators spans 150 countries and the company has existing operations across six continents. PrecisionHawk is funded by leading venture capital firms and global technology investors including Intel Capital, Millennium Technology Value Partners, Verizon Ventures, a subsidiary of USAA, NTT Docomo Ventures, Yamaha Motor, DuPont and Indiana University.  

More information about PrecisionHawk can be found at www.precisionhawk.com or on Twitter @PrecisionHawk.

SOURCE PrecisionHawk

Related Links

http://www.precisionhawk.com

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