FOUNDING DIRECTOR

Scott has over 20 years of professional experience in finance and accounting. He has served as the Chief Financial Officer at Bullrock Corporation, Vermont Teddy Bear, Heritage Aviation, and Hubbardton Forge. In addition, he has also served in various finance and accounting managerial roles at Fab-Tech, Burton Snowboards, and American Skiing Company.

DIRECTOR

A native Vermonter with more than 25 years of professional experience at blue-chip companies like Vermont Teddy Bear, Burton Snowboards, Hampton Direct, and City Market, Tim provides a veteran leadership and counsel found at the executive level. Accounting, supply chain, human resources, legal affairs and information technology – this former CFO has helped guided many entrepreneurial companies to success. Tim has undergraduate degrees in Finance and Political Science from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, and earned his MBA at the University of Vermont.

Andrea has thirty years of experience for various Vermont non-profit organizations, including serving as the Chief Financial Officer for Vermont Public Television, Shelburne Museum and the Flynn Center. She has a deep understanding of the nuances of the non-profit sector, and as is often the case in NPOs, in her past roles Andrea has led the human resources, information technology and general administrative teams giving her a wide range of business experience.

Cheryl has worked in many various and interesting work environments in her 35-year career.  Lots of nonprofit work (Education, Government, Library) as well as 5 years of public accounting where her clients ranged from a Mom & Pop pizza shop to a client that spent 3 summer weeks in Iowa detasseling corn.  She loves what she does and enjoys meeting new people and learning new things every day.   Her granddaughter brought her to the Green Mountain State 4 years ago.  She spends her down time with her family and in the garden, park, forest, or mountains.  

Deb has over 30 years of accounting experience and is a licensed CPA in Vermont. Deb has worked for a multitude of related entities making her versed in juggling everything from accounting, office management and property management as well as assisted small clients with their yearly accounting. Deb was a controller at an eCommerce business she helped grow from a start up to a successful business. Her first 10 years in accounting were spent at CPA firms. Deb enjoys helping client have accurate financials, assisting in accounting computer conversions & integrations, and working with accounting staff to improve accounting practices.

Jess Damon brings 13 years professional experience leading accounting teams through month end closes, implementing best practices, financial statement reporting and analysis, budgeting and forecasting, and systems integrations and process improvements. Jess is a CPA and former auditor, well-versed in accounting principles. She has worked with a variety of systems and industries including manufacturing, SaaS, investment companies, and non-profits. She enjoys helping our clients to better understand their financials so they can plan for the future.

Joyce comes to Ascend with over 25 years working for non-profit organizations. She understands working for NPO’s, the need for internal controls and processes for segregation of duties. Joyce performed these duties in her role as an Accounting Manager or Business Administrator. She especially enjoys the bookkeeping and the detail needed for reporting to board members.

Ki McClennan worked for many years in administration, project coordination, office management and bookkeeping. Her most recent 13 years were spent in the roles of office manager and bookkeeper to a Burlington law firm, supporting thirteen attorneys and supervising the firm’s staff. Ki has a particular love of bookkeeping, and also enjoys opportunities to utilize her organizational skills. She offers hard work, thoughtful problem solving, and creative management of simultaneous tasks.

Laura is new to Ascend

Mike brings to Ascend over 35 years of corporate finance, accounting and operational management experience. He has held multiple senior and executive level positions for companies such as Burton Snowboards, Suss MicroTec, Peregrine Outfitters, Choice Strategies and WageWorks. Over the course of his vast career, Mike has gained the insight to incorporate best practices and believes in not ‘re-inventing the wheel’ when providing effective solutions for his clients.

Missy brings almost 20 years of accounting experience to the Ascend Group. She has extensive experience in a variety of industries with significant focus on Manufacturing. She has worked her way up from Staff Accountant to Controller doing all accounting functions for both small and mid-sized businesses. While most of her professional work has been in full time roles, she also has run her own accounting  and bookkeeping service since 2007.

Peter brings to Ascend expertise from over 30 years as both a CFO and Controller in manufacturing, distribution, retail, and ecommerce industries. Throughout his career, his successes have started by building efficient and motivated financial teams with an emphasis on supporting the mission of the organization. He has taken that approach with mid-sized Vermont companies during is leadership positions at Tuttle Publishing, Vermont Hard Cider Company, Tata’s Natural Alchemy, and other companies. He has significant experience in the selection and implementation of ERP systems, navigating corporate financing/fundraising and M&A activities, as well being a general operational and financial resource for all areas of an organization. Peter holds CPA, CMA, CGMA, and CITP designations.

Ryan has worked in several diverse industries. Most recently he came to Ascend from leading the finance team of a midsized construction company after leading the North American Division finance team for an international manufacturer company. He is an energetic and outgoing Finance Executive possessing a broad set of financial and administrative strengths with a client-centric focus. Ryan is extremely detail oriented and organized. He has also streamlined processes to accommodate massive company growth and helped facilitate said growth through his background in data analytics. He got his undergraduate degree from UVM in Finance and his MBA from Castleton in both Accounting and Data Analytics.

Will brings 10 years of finance experience to Ascend, including the better part of the last decade managing his own consulting firm. He has experience in various industries, including NPOs, real estate, insurance and food and beverage. He specializes in "micro-businesses," in particular starting client accounts from scratch and training clients on basic accounting fundamentals and workflows to help them understand their financial position and run their business more efficiently. Will is a certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor and enjoys offering trainings and webinars to improve client education around bookkeeping and accounting.