Ascend One

Bernie Dancel is Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Ascend One Corporation, parent company to the Amerix Corporation, which Dancel launched in 1997. As CEO, Dancel oversees the strategic direction of Ascend One Corporation, the umbrella company to the Amerix Corporation as well as CareOne Services (formerly The Freedom Point) and 3C Incorporated. He has over 18 years of experience in the debt management and debt education industry.

Prior to leading Amerix, Dancel started National Credit Counseling Services in 1992, a nonprofit credit counseling agency, which later became Genus Credit Management. Under Dancel's leadership, Genus Credit Management grew to be the largest non-profit credit counseling agency in the nation.

After starting Amerix Corporation in 1997, Dancel left Genus to focus on developing Amerix's technology and service platforms to serve other credit counseling agencies. It is now the nation's largest provider of technology and processing to the debt management industry.

A true entrepreneur, Dancel has been recognized by The Daily Record as the Innovator of the Year in 2008 He is known for his ground-breaking strategies in marketing, customer service and technology that have become standard in the debt management industry.

Dancel shows the same level of innovation and devotion to his employees as he does to his company. A devoted husband, and father of five children, he understands and appreciates the importance of balance between personal and work life. Determined to bring that balance to his employee’s lives, he moved his company in the direction of a virtual workplace environment -- enabling over 250 of his employees the opportunity to work from home and allowing them to eliminate commute time, save money on transportation and be more readily available to their families. This innovation has resulted in Ascend One Corporation being named one of the top 25 Best Places to Work in Baltimore in 2009, 2007 and 2005 as well as being named one of the American Psychological Association's Best Practices Work/Balance Award in 2008.

A philanthropist, Dancel’s commitment to the welfare of Maryland families has driven him to donate generously to public education, hospitals and non-profit agencies throughout the state. He is a major supporter of the Howard County YMCA of Central Maryland. The Dancel Family Foundation’s generous donation revitalized the Y’s capital campaign, allowing them to upgrade and expand their facility, benefiting thousands of Howard County families. Dancel was a driving force behind the Howard County Stadium Lighting initiative, a group of citizens formed to raise money to install lights in all the area high school stadiums. Howard County General Hospital has benefited from Dancel’s support as well. His Foundation recently donated funds to build and outfit a state of the art fitness center and Cardiopulmonary gym to be used by cardiac rehabilitation patients from the hospital's Outpatient Center.

Not satisfied to just invest his dollars in the community, he gives generously of his time. He serves as a member of the Board of Directors for Howard Bank. He is one of the founding members of the Columbia Ravens Football organization and is the Chairman of the Dancel Family Foundation, a non-profit organization whose mission is to focus on the needs of children. He has served on the boards of the Howard County Public School Education Foundation, Columbia Foundation for the Arts, and Howard County Community College Education Foundation. Junior Achievement, Starr, Domestic Violence Center of Howard County, National Family Resiliency Center, Howard County Academy of Finance, Maryland Council on Economic Education and the Horizon Foundation are only a few of the many community groups that benefit from the generosity of Dancel.

Bob Miller is Chief Financial Officer of Ascend One Corporation. He was appointed to this position in 1998.

Miller’s responsibilities cover capital markets and financial strategy, DMP operations, legal and compliance and creditor operations and relations.

Previously, Miller spent eighteen years at AT&T -- the last eight were spent at AT&T Universal Card Services (UCS), a credit card issuer where he held the positions of Vice President & Treasurer and Vice President of Finance.

With an MBA in Finance from Columbia University and a BA in Economics, Miller brings several decades of experience to Ascend One from positions in manufacturing, telecommunications and financial services.

Miller currently oversees the Maureen Slattery Miller Care Fund at the ALS Association, which is dedicated to helping those with the always fatal disease ALS who are in financial need.

Bob’s Quote: "I have been here for over a decade because Ascend One, above all companies where I have worked in the past, is a company that pulls together with a mission that makes you feel good when you wake up to go to work."

Jenny Realo joined Ascend One in February 1999 as Vice President and Managing Director of Quality. She has held a variety of positions within the organization including Vice President/Senior Director of Human Resources, Vice President/Senior Director of E-Commerce, Vice President/ Senior Director of Amerix Corporation's Operations and CareOne Services's Market Management. In her current role, Realo's responsibilities include overseeing product development, online channel management, customer experience, brand management and customer communications.

Before joining Ascend One, Realo was employed by the St. Paul Companies in Baltimore, MD for nearly seven years. She served as the Manager for Technology & Business Development for the Family and Business Insurance Group and was also a member of the Acquisition Task Force. Prior to that, Realo served as a senior auditor for the Commercial and Finance Division of Arthur Andersen & Co. in Washington, DC.

Realo attended the University of Richmond and received a B.S., B.A. in Accounting. She earned an MBA from Loyola College. Realo is a Certified Public Accountant. She also served on the Board of Directors of the Caroline Center for three years and is currently serving as a member of the Board of Trustees for Living Classrooms Foundation, an organization providing hands-on education and jobs training to economically disadvantaged youth and adults in the Baltimore/DC areas.

Jenny’s quote: "Ascend One is a place where passionate people gather to make a positive difference for debt-laden consumers. Status quo is never satisfactory. We are constantly on the hunt for ways to deliver more value, a better customer experience and better services and products to our customers. Bottom line, our customers are king (and queen!)."

John Mill has managed financial and business strategies for Ascend One for the past 12 years. He is responsible for leading the corporate financial planning & analysis, accounting, payment services, cash management, leasing, purchasing, and risk management areas.

Before joining Ascend One, Mill served as Senior Financial Director for AT&T Universal Card Services for over eight years. In this capacity, he held various financial leadership positions and managed financial processes within this multi-billion dollar credit card organization that won the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award.

Prior to that, Mill worked at AT&T holding financial management and auditing positions in several corporate and manufacturing divisions.

Mill earned his undergraduate degree in Accounting from Muhlenberg College and completed an MBA at Lehigh University. He recently served on Boards with New Life Community Church and Howard County’s Academy of Finance.

John’s Quote: "We each have an opportunity at Ascend One to make a real and meaningful difference for our customers, and to directly impact our business success. It is a rewarding experience to take advantage of this unique opportunity to serve others."

As Chief Information Officer for Ascend One, Tom Iler leads the company's technology team and is responsible for maintaining, developing and operating the company's information systems.

Prior to joining Ascend One in 2009, Tom served as SVP & Chief Information Officer of Platform-A, a division of AOL/Time Warner, overseeing the technology division for the industry's largest digital advertising platform. As CIO, Tom was responsible for the company's 340 technology employees located in eight cities across the US and Europe.

Prior to Platform-A, Tom was the CIO of Advertising.com, another division of AOL/Time Warner and served as CIO for Baltimore County Government.

During his career, Tom has also taught Systems Development Process and Information Technology Business Strategy for Towson University's Graduate Applied Information Technology Program.

Tom holds a BA degree in economics from Loyola College and an MBA from the University of Baltimore.

Tom currently serves as a member of Towson University's College of Business and Economics Advisory Board where he co-chairs the Curriculum & Student Programs Committee. Additionally, he serves on the Buildings and Grounds Committee at St. Pius X Catholic Church in Towson, MD and he also is actively involved in his sons' Boy Scout Troop.

Tom’s Quote: "It is refreshing to be part of a company that really cares about its customers and is committed to assisting people who are in the greatest need of our help."

Mark Westerman joined Ascend One as Chief Marketing Officer in February 2011. In this role, Westerman oversees all components of the marketing mix including: advertising (offline and online), Public Relations, Social Media, Search, SEO and Market Research. Prior to joining Ascend One, Westerman served as the Managing Director at West33 Consulting Group, a marketing, sports marketing and brand consultancy that he founded in 2007.

Before launching West33, Westerman served as Vice President of Global Marketing Communications for Fila (one of the world’s largest athletic footwear and apparel brands). While at Fila, he led the marketing and sports marketing efforts that successfully re-positioned the brand for global growth. Previously he was employed as a Vice President/Account Director at Doner Advertising, where he focused on leading the advertising and promotion efforts for Verizon Wireless, Arby's and McCormick.

Westerman earned his BA degree in economics from the University of Michigan.

He is active in youth sports and is currently leading the fundraising efforts for the Owings Mills High School Stadium Project. Westerman has also been a guest lecturer at Johns Hopkins University School of Business, the University of Maryland and UMBC. He has also volunteered as a mentor at Goucher College.

Mark and his wife Ellen have three children, Jamie, Sara and Sam. He is also an avid runner and cyclist who has competed in numerous duathlons and a marathon. Still living the dream (or dreaming).

Jiunn Tan joined Ascend One Corporation in September 2010. In this role, he oversees the company’s business analysis, reporting services and workforce management. Jiunn’s charter is to marshal the vast amount of data collected and utilize predictive analytics to better inform business decisions and drive industry leading solutions to maximize the value we bring to our customers.

Prior to joining Ascend One, he was the Senior Director for Merkle’s Quantitative Solutions Group, a leading database marketing consulting firm. Through the marriage of data, technology and analytics, he provided thought leadership and advised his clients on strategic decisions and helped optimize their business performances. His client portfolio included many of the Fortune 1000 companies including Bank of America, Dell, Disney, GEICO, NIKE and Samsung.

Before Merkle, Jiunn spent 14+ years in the banking industry in various capacities with First USA (now JP Morgan Chase), Fleet (now Bank of America) and Washington Mutual (now JP Morgan Chase) managing all facets of customer lifecycle (from prospecting, credit policy, underwriting, customer onboarding/engagement, cross-selling and retention) across both online and offline channels.

Jiunn graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from University of Washington with B.S. in Computer Science and B.A. in Economics with distinction. He also completed his Master’s degree in Engineering Economics Systems, focusing on Investment Science from Stanford University.