David Wurtzbacher is Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Ascend, a platform that empowers entrepreneurial CPAs to reach their goals with an innovative growth model that brings their firms into the new age. Ascend is backed by Alpine Investors, a people-driven private equity firm that previously backed David as President and CFO of Lightwave Dental which he helped grow from scratch to $300 million in revenue over five years. He spent the early years of his career at J.P. Morgan in New York, identifying, researching, and executing investments for its Asset & Wealth Management division. David earned an MBA with Distinction from Harvard Business School and a BS in Finance, magna cum laude, from Wake Forest University. David is proud to be from Colorado. He loves to ski and hike with his family. He lives in northern Virginia with his wife and two young children.