About this episode

Chase Rigby discusses modernizing graduation ceremonies and the innovative approaches of Tassel.

Commencement season is here, and while we all love the tradition, let’s be honest: a lot of graduation ceremonies are still operationally stuck in the 18th century. This week, Chase Rigby, CEO of Tassel, joins Mike Palmer to talk about what it actually takes to modernize the final milestone of the student lifecycle. Chase shares his path from teaching seventh-grade math and science with Teach For America to working as a product manager at Google, before ultimately using a search fund model to acquire Marching Order and evolve it into Tassel. We dig into why forward-thinking colleges are moving away from treating graduation as just a logistical headache and starting to view it as a strategic marketing and recruitment engine. Chase explains how Tassel is trying to upend the traditional business model by moving away from nickel-and-diming students with steep fees for their own achievement, and instead leveraging community gifting platforms that put money back in their pockets for rent or student debt. We also get into the tech side of things, discussing how they train AI models on a 20-year phonetic database to get broadcast-quality name pronunciations on stage, all while navigating…

People in this episode

Host: Mike Palmer

Guest: Chase Rigby

Topics covered

• graduation
• education technology
• student lifecycle
• marketing
• community gifting
• biometric privacy

Keywords

• graduation
• Tassel
• Chase Rigby
• education
• AI models
• biometric privacy
• community gifting

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Tassel, Teach For America, Google, Marching Order

More episodes of Trending In Ed with Mike Palmer

• Episode 750: Live from the HGSE Next Level Lab Spring Summit · June 9, 2026 · 37 min
• Summer 2026 Preview Trailer: Reinventing the Future of Learning · June 5, 2026 · 2 min
• How One Public High School Transformed First-Gen College Success with Dr. Erika Kitzmiller · May 19, 2026 · 41 min
• Smarter Decision-Making in the Age of AI with Cheryl Strauss Einhorn, Author of The Human Edge · May 15, 2026 · 42 min
• Exploring American Educational Excellence with Author and Founder Kenan Sahin · May 12, 2026 · 45 min

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Trending In Ed with Mike Palmer podcast page.