Gaia Bagnasacco, Gaia Café, New York, NY >

meet Ascendus

Our goal is to help business owners ascend to a better life. And while you’ll find us listed individually below, you can be sure that we work together as a team to ensure your success.

Leadership Team

Paul Quintero

Chief Executive Officer

My role in helping clients ascend:

Paul provides strategic vision and transformational leadership for Ascendus to unlock the bold mandate of financial opportunity and mobility for small business owners nationwide. Read more »

Ana Hammock

Chief Lending Officer

My role in helping clients ascend:

Ana provides strategic leadership to deliver lending and technical assistance solutions to small business owners in all markets. Read more »

Picture of Joshua Brackett

Joshua Brackett

Chief Financial Officer

My role in helping clients ascend:

Joshua provides leadership in capitalization strategy to optimize growth opportunities and ensure best-in-class compliance, ultimately delivering new financial products and services to help small businesses succeed and grow. Read more »

Victoria Richardson

Senior Vice President of Development and Communications

My role in helping clients ascend:

Victoria works with partners and donors to create deep and lasting impact for small business owners. Read more »

Jennifer Spaziano

Senior Vice President of Technology and Innovation

My role in helping clients ascend:

Jennifer's leadership provides innovative technology driven solutions to complex client development channels. Read more »

Rodrigo Cerveira

Vice President of Credit Risk and Loan Service

My role in helping clients ascend:

Rodrigo provides his leadership and extensive lending program management experience to the organization's loan services team. Read more »

Simmone Kadiri

Vice President of People Operations

My role in helping clients ascend:

Simmone oversees all aspects of recruitment, staffing, compensation, benefits, administration, compliance, training, and development. Read more »

Board Members

Laura Miller, Chair

Chief Revenue Officer and Global Head of eCommerce, Nuvei

Colleen Galvin, Vice Chair

Director, North America Small Business at Mastercard

Roshelle Nagar, Secretary

Counsel, Weil, Gotshal & Manges, LLP

Kimberly Johnson, Treasurer

Partner, KPMG LLP (Retired)

Stephen Cassell

Chief Marketing and Brand Officer, Point32Health

Pablo Cortina

Business Director, Small Business Lending Analytics and Data Science, Capital One

Daniel Delehanty

CRA Officer, Community Development Director at DIME bank

Amy Hellen

SVP, Chief Compliance Officer, Corporate Risk Management, Discover Financial Services

Joseph Hernandez

Senior Director; HR, Inclusion & Diversity, TIAA Financial Services

Zara Ingilizian

Head of Consumer Industries, Member of the Executive Committee, World Economic Forum

Sudhir Jain

Managing Director, Citigroup

Perri Richmond

Co-Founder, Strategist and General Partner, Inspire Global Ventures

Lisa Servon

Professor and Department Chair, City and Regional Planning, University of Pennsylvania

JJ Singh

President, Retreat Hotels & Resorts

Tyler Van Gundy

Senior Vice President, Hunt Companies, Inc.

Jerry Weiss

Head of Credit Risk, MoneyLion

New England Advisory Board

Alvaro Lima, Vice Chair

Director of Research, Boston Redevelopment Authority

Anne Cerami

Special Assets Analyst at Enterprise Bank

Henrik Totterman

Professor of Practice, Entrepreneurship & Management, Hult International Business School

Kris Puskar

Business Banking Sales and Innovation Director, Eastern Bank

Florida Advisory Board

Cristina Ice, Chair

Vice President Business Banking Area Manager, Chase Business Banking RM Channel

Miguel Baez, Vice Chair

Vice-President - Small Business Banker Manager, Bank of America

Clara Diaz Leal

Executive Vice President, Retail Executive - Miami Dade Market, Bank United

Karla Gottlieb

Grants and Development Consultant

Paul Hunt

Faculty, Florida International University

Peter Salas

Head of Franchise Lending, Regions Bank

Myrna Sonora

Regional Vice President, South Florida, Prospera

Ralph Tejada

Director of Commercial Banking SVP, City National Bank of Florida

Leo Toca

Vice President, Senior Community Development Officer, Wells Fargo Foundation

Mihai Vrasmasu

Partner, Shook, Hardy, and Bacon

David Boerger

Senior Vice President, Retail Market Manager for Miami-Dade & Florida Keys, First Horizon

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