Ascend National Cohort

University of Washington Foster School of Business

Contacts: Michael Verchot, Mayte Manzo, Jasper Kinnay, and Martha Flores Perez

The application for the 2024-2025 Cohort is now closed. If you applied, we are reviewing it now and will send out responses shortly. If you are interested in receiving the application for next year, please fill out the interest form.

Business owner- iNterest form

Faculty

Giselle E. Antoine, PhD

Crystal Farh, PhD

Andrew Hafenbrack, PhD

Ben Hallen, PhD

Masha Shunko, PhD

Our Approach

Businesses accepted to the Ascend National Cohort will enter with a defined opportunity/challenge that, when addressed, will lead to profitable growth. Over the 7-months of the cohort program, businesses access a fantastic set of resources that address the opportunity/challenge they have identified, including:

60 - 80 hours of business coaching from a successful entrepreneur
80 hours of assistance from an MBA student
Two consulting sessions from EY
Two accounting and financial management consulting sessions from RSM
Two capital access sessions with business and middle-market lenders from JPMorgan Chase
Six days of in-person instruction at the University of Washington
33 hours of virtual instruction and small group work on operational excellence, B2B marketing, and organizational leadership

While most business development programs focus on just the business owner or CEO, the Ascend National Cohort is focused on building a strong executive leadership team. The CEO plus 2 C-Suite level colleagues from each company can attend in-person and virtual sessions.