Michael A. Friar—Principal

Mike brings over 30 years of public accounting and strategic business management experience to Ascend. In 1990, he launched FHA CPAs, which by 2005 was one of the top 25 accounting firms in the San Francisco Bay Area. Formerly a manager at KPMG and an audit partner at a regional accounting firm, he has extensive experience with middle market companies in a wide variety of industries, including manufacturing, wholesale and distribution, retail, technology, service companies, and franchisors. For the last 20 years, Mike has specialized in strategic planning for middle market companies, with a focus on growth and exit strategy through merger & acquisition and family succession. Mike has completed over 55 sell and buy side transactions in addition to hundreds of advisory engagements. Mike graduated with a B.S. in Accounting and Finance from California State University East Bay.

Mr. Friar is a Registered Representative of and Securities are offered through BA Securities, LLC
222 East Montgomery Ave, Suite 305 Ardmore, PA 19003 Member FINRA SIPC
Ascend Strategic Partners, LLC is a separate entity from BA Securities, LLC
Ascend Strategic Partners, LLC and BA Securities, LLC are not affiliated entities

Mark Stailey—Principal

Mark has over 25 years of executive operational, financial, sales & marketing and project management experience in the software and financial services industries. Prior to joining Ascend, Mark was a managing director at Pen-Cal, Inc., where he marketed and installed corporate non-qualified executive benefits plans for public and private companies. Previously, Mark was a project manager for Hewlett Packard's Global CRM team, where he led international release management and quality assurance teams for the worldwide implementation of Siebel and Oracle eBusiness Suite. He has also served as the COO of BISNet, Inc., a provider of online employee benefits administration services and President/COO of InsMark, Inc., a leading developer of insurance and financial software for planning professionals. Mark began his career as manufacturing manager for West Coast Scientific, a biomedical plastics manufacturer. Mark earned his MBA from Saint Mary's College and B.A. in Computer Science from the University of California, Berkeley.

Mr. Stailey is a Registered Representative of and Securities are offered through BA Securities, LLC
222 East Montgomery Ave, Suite 305 Ardmore, PA 19003 Member FINRA SIPC
Ascend Strategic Partners, LLC is a separate entity from BA Securities, LLC
Ascend Strategic Partners, LLC and BA Securities, LLC are not affiliated entities

Scott Pietro—Principal

Scott has 20 years of well-rounded experience in all aspects of manufacturing, including sales, operations, finance, treasury, procurement, human resources, product development, and strategic planning. Scott is a founding partner of LegalShore LLC, a successful SaaS (Software as a Service) company offering web-based employee compliance products to small and mid-size businesses. Prior to this, Scott held the position of Vice President of Finance and Vice President of Human Resources and Procurement for a $100 million high growth privately-held plastics manufacturer. Previously, Scott spent five years as the Financial / Administrative Manager for Reynolds Metals, an aluminum can manufacturer. Scott has a B.A in business economics from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Mr. Pietro is a Registered Representative of and Securities are offered through BA Securities, LLC
222 East Montgomery Ave, Suite 305 Ardmore, PA 19003 Member FINRA SIPC
Ascend Strategic Partners, LLC is a separate entity from BA Securities, LLC
Ascend Strategic Partners, LLC and BA Securities, LLC are not affiliated entities