As a native of Pittsburgh, K. Chase Patterson began to appreciate the power of knowledge from his earliest days. After his studies at the University of Pittsburgh, Patterson started his professional career at the Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh. While at the Urban League, he established the Black Male Youth Summit, now known as the Black Male Leadership Development Institute (BMLDI), and taught post-secondary prep classes at Wilkinsburg High School.

Before working as a consultant and the Chief Diversity Advisor to the largest Panera Bread Franchisee, Covelli Enterprises, Chase served as the federal liaison to the Departments of Homeland Security, Immigration, State, and Education on behalf of Pennsylvania Congressman Mike Doyle.

In 2015, he opened Society Men's Grooming Lounge, an upscale barbershop in Pittsburgh's Historic Hill District. Before becoming CEO of the Urban Academy, Chase served in several capacities, as Trustee, Business Manager, and Chief Operating Officer, and led the rebranding, relocation, and renovation of a new school. Now, as the Chief Executive Officer of Pittsburgh's oldest Charter School, the Urban Academy, Chase has the privilege of working every day toward a personal mission to show that ALL children, particularly Black children, can learn and succeed when immersed in a student-centered, rigorous, culturally centered, and relationship-driven learning environment.

Chase served four years as General Chairman of the Pittsburgh NAACP Human Rights Dinner, was Chairman of the Chuck Cooper Foundation and the Adonai Center for Black Males, and has served on the boards of Three Rivers Workforce Investment Board, the Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh NAACP, Pittsburgh Urban Magnet Project (PUMP). Currently he serves as Chairman of the Larimer Consensus Group community development organization and on advisory board of the University of Pittsburgh's Office of Child Development.

His leadership has been recognized locally and nationally in Pittsburgh Magazine, Whirl Magazine, the New Pittsburgh Courier, Ebony Magazine, and Black Enterprise. Chase is a proud member and former board member of The Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated. 

Chase and his son, also Chase, live in Pittsburgh's East Hills community. He teaches him that there is more good in the world than evil, but we must meet the bad with good resistance as often as we can.