Team

Outsourcing & Executive Leadership | 30+ years beCogent, Transcom Worldwide S.A, Early Learning Centre, Smythsons, Regal Hotel Group.

Dermot brings over 30 years of outsourcing and contact centre experience to Ascensos, including his time as Chairman, Founder and Principal Shareholder of beCogent, one of the UK’s most respected contact centre providers and a member of the board at Swedish quoted Transcom Worldwide SA.

In recognition of his commitment to UK enterprise, Dermot was awarded ‘Scottish Entrepreneur of the Year’ in 2009. He also retains a wide range of other business interests, including many years on the boards of John Menzies plc. and the Scottish Friendly Assurance Society.

Outsourcing & Executive Leadership | 27+ years
beCogent, Teleperformance, Motorola.

With over 27 years of experience in the BPO and CX arena, John has partnered with leading global brands such as KFC, Peloton, Aldi, B&Q, and Polo Ralph Lauren. He has delivered scalable solutions that have helped transform their customer service provision and significantly improve their customer experience.

John’s entrepreneurial & leadership skills have allowed him to create specialist teams that are focused on results. His steadfast approach to ‘delivering with a personal touch ensures that he remains involved with each of our clients every step of the way.

Prior to forming Ascensos in 2013, John was the Commercial & Operations Director at beCogent and, post-acquisition by Teleperformance in 2010, was Managing Director across their UK business.

In 2021 John was recognised as a Regional Winner and UK National Finalist at the coveted EY Entrepreneur of the Year awards.

As well as being a fanatic about world-class customer experience, John is equally fanatical about football and previously served as a Director and Chairman of Albion Rovers Football Club.

Finance Leadership | 20 years
John Menzies plc, Heineken, Scottish & Newcastle.

Martin has over 20 years’ leadership experience operating in senior finance positions within significant, fast-moving, international businesses such as John Menzies, Heineken and Scottish & Newcastle.

A Chartered Accountant, his experience spans all key finance disciplines, together with business change. Before joining Ascensos, Martin headed up all aspects of Financial Control within the distribution arm of John Menzies, having previously enjoyed various commercially focused finance roles within Heineken and Scottish & Newcastle.

Martin retains a strong interest in the voluntary sector, particularly working with both young people and those with learning disabilities. He previously served on the board as Chairman of Lung Ha Theatre Company, a leading international theatre company for people with a learning disability based in Edinburgh.

Outsourcing & Contact Centre Management | 20+ years
beCogent, Teleperformance, Police Scotland.

David has a proven track record in delivering innovative and effective IT solutions to a variety of the best-known brands in Europe.

With his strong background in information security and compliance, David ensures that confidentiality, integrity, and data availability is at the core of every solution we deliver.

Prior to joining Ascensos, David spent two years with Police Scotland leading a transformation team funded by the Scottish Government to ensure the safe technical delivery of solutions during police reform to a single national force. During this period, David was also a management board member that successfully delivered the Scottish Crime Campus.

Contact Centre & Executive Leadership | 27+ years
General Electric, Montgomery Ward, APAC, Acme Graphics, DFB Pharmaceuticals and Lil’ Drug Store Products, beCogent.

Jim has considerable experience in the contact centre industry and was previously a shareholder and Non-Executive Director of beCogent.

A graduate of Baldwin Wallace College, Ohio, Jim earned his undergraduate and MBA degrees in business. He then joined the General Electric Company (GE) as a management trainee and enjoyed a distinguished career, holding various senior leadership and executive-level positions.

After his 28-year tenure at GE, Jim has served as Chief Executive and board member for many successful businesses across the United States. He brings this exceptional track record and experience to Ascensos.

Jim has also served on the board of a number of renowned educational establishments; including Mount Mercy University and the Advisory Board for the MBA program at the University of Iowa.

Executive Leadership | 27+ years
Goldman Sachs, OKA Direct Limited, Crew Clothing, LighterLife.

Octavia has extensive experience in consumer industries, including CEO of OKA Direct Limited, Managing Director of Crew Clothing and CEO at LighterLife, a UK weight loss and weight management franchise business.

Having started her career in investment banking at Goldman Sachs, Octavia moved into retail and has enjoyed several roles covering e-commerce, marketing and commercial at Asda, Laura Ashley and Woolworths.

Octavia has also served on the boards of UK public and private businesses for over ten years, currently as a non-executive Director of Ascensos Ltd, Card Factory plc and Crest Nicholson plc.

Finance & Legal | 12+ years
Finstock Capital.

From 2009 Oliver worked at City law firm Peachey & CO LLP, a corporate and commercial practice with a wide range of listed and unlisted clients.

He was made a partner of the firm in 2014, aged 30. Oliver advised at all stages of the corporate life-cycle from incorporation to sale and provided day-to-day commercial advice.

Since 2015, Oliver has been the leading legal adviser for Ascensos, including contract negotiations with clients.

Oliver joined the board of Ascensos in January 2017, where he provides commercial advice in addition to his interactions with the company through Peachey.

In January 2018, Oliver left Peachey to join Finstock Capital (“Finstock”), a private equity vehicle. Finstock invests in a range of opportunities from 100% equity ownership, to more minor equity positions with a board seat, to debt financing and management buyouts.

With a background in senior management roles, delivering for brands such as T-Mobile, Three, John Lewis and JD Williams, Stephen is well versed in operational governance and strategic customer experience delivery.

Leading our operation in Clydebank, Stephen has driven considerable transformation for our client, enhancing their CX delivery and reducing customer effort, resulting in his operation expanding across our European sites and doubling in size.

A key part of the Ascensos team nominated as finalists for ‘Best Outsourced Partnership’ at the ECCCSA and awarded winner of ‘Contact Centre Manager of the Year’ with the CCMA, Stephen has undoubtedly made his mark since joining our team.

Outsourcing | 20+ years
beCogent, Teleperformance, BSkyB.

Lyle lives and breathes outsourcing. With over two decades of BPO experience, he has worked in partnership with many brands, such as Peloton, B&Q, Aldi, Wickes and Sky.

With a background in operational management and support roles, such as resource planning and solution building, Lyle focuses on using his expertise to ensure he delivers the best solutions for our clients. He prides himself in providing world-class service and is always available to our clients to offer support in escalation, strategy, and solutions daily.

Market Engagement | 22 Years
SITEL Consulting, Teleperformance, Concentrix,

Over the past 22 years, William has worked with the world’s leading BPO outsourcers, including SITEL, Teleperformance, and Concentrix, as a Consultant, Director and Board Member. 

His passion is developing and implementing the unique relationship approach necessary in BPO to engage and educate the market, which was the focus of his MA in Business Management in 2016. 

William is an active member and regular contributor to industry organisations. He is a writer, speaker and general disruptor of all things customer experience (CX) related.

Away from CX management, William is a Non-Executive Director of a welfare and development charity, New Ways, which operates predominantly in Turkana, Northern Kenya, and the up-start Evershare.io, a block-chain based music publishing business. He continues to write, perform and record as a musician.

Fiona joined us in 2014 to build the Ascensos brand and spearhead our marketing activities. A CIM qualified digital marketer, she has 20+ years of marketing and communications experience across various sectors.

A creative with a knack for data. Fiona has an appreciation that the best ideas and insights are often under a mound of data. She’s an enthusiastic advocate of our workplace culture and the ethos that underpins who we are.

Currently, Fiona leads our corporate marketing activities alongside our internal colleague communications. Like the rest of the Leadership team, she is driven to create a colleague experience aligned to our company vision and values to ensure our company culture translates into a vibrant place to work.

This is Archie. You may recognise this pup. Since day dot, he’s been part of #theAteam, when our founders invited him to become our company mascot.

As a friendly, bold, young Scottish pup, and an incredibly cute black Labrador, Archie did a fantastic job representing our company values back in 2013. He was exceptionally energetic, loyal to the core, agile and very, very tenacious. He would jump through hoops to achieve his goals – and as a young company focused on doing things differently – we identified with his zest for life.

Six years later, Archie has grown with us, and although not such a young pup now, he still reminds us of our roots and continues to be an ambassador for Ascensos.

Archie loves his job, he cheers up his colleagues with a wag of his tail when he visits, and he’s just been promoted to Recognition VP and Chief Fundraiser!