Team

Alison has been a Trustee and a member of both the AVA and AO Committee at Ascentis since June 2013. Having spent over 25 years working in Higher Education admissions, Alison has more recently been undertaking project and support work in a number of Universities in both the North East and North West of England. She has been very happy to be part of an organisation supporting opportunities to enhance lives through education.

Jessica has been a Trustee and a member of the AVA and AO Committee at Ascentis since May 2022. Jessica has 25 years of experience in Higher Education management and administration, having worked in several universities across England and Scotland. With a background in quality assurance and compliance, she has held a number of senior roles and is currently the Director (Academic Quality and Development) at the University of Cumbria. She is passionate about the role that education can play in opening up opportunities for individuals and communities. She is pleased to be working with Ascentis, which is helping to transform lives through education.

Paul has worked in international education and transnational education (TNE) partnerships throughout his career, initially teaching overseas in Spain and Japan for 8 years. On returning to the U.K., he used his background in teaching TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) in a large Further Education college managing an ESOL department, running international foundation and teacher training programmes and recruiting international students. Replicating this role in Higher Education more recently has led to role focused on developing and maintaining TNE partnerships at scale and international student exchange opportunities for a University and supporting the development of complementary partnerships with Further Education colleges.

Rosemarie started her career in sales and marketing, followed by three years as a social worker in residential care settings for young people in Greater Manchester, before moving into Further Education in 1986.

In 2006 Rosemarie moved to Manchester Enterprises (now Economic Solutions) where she was responsible for the delivery of university accredited Leadership and Management qualifications.  In 2007 she was appointed as Head of Higher Education Programmes for Economic Solutions’ training arm, Skills Solutions, since which time she has overseen the substantial development of Economic Solutions’ HE provision. Rosemarie is the Chair of the Awarding Organisation Committee.

Stephen has a professional background in Human Resources. He was a senior manager in Further Education for over 20 years. Until his retirement, he had been Principal at two Further Education Colleges for a total of 7 years. Stephen is Chair of the Ascentis Board and he also Chairs the Remuneration Committee.

Alex joined Ascentis in March 2021, after spending the last 14 years working with education providers in the Disabled Students Allowance, colleges and universities in the UK, Europe and the USA, as well as businesses and local authorities, providing innovative technology solutions. 

Alex looks after our Ascentis centres throughout the UK and leads the Account Management and new business team.

Outside of Ascentis, Alex spends his summers playing cricket for his local team and enjoys walking throughout the lake district.

Clarissa joined Ascentis in October 2023. She comes from a background in education, working previously in Awarding for 9 years, and within Adult Education as a Curriculum Manager and Tutor for 5 years before that.

Clarissa manages relationships with our partners and key stakeholders such as networks, alliances and employers.

Outside of Ascentis, Clarissa likes to build Lego, work on creative projects and spend time with her two children (both girls).

Deane joined Ascentis in March 2024. He has background and experience as an account manager in various industries, most recently in the IT industry in which he spent the previous 5 years.

Deane looks after our Ascentis centres in the North East, Yorkshire and the East of England. Deane is looking to meet new and existing centres in these regions so if you’d like to arrange a visit, please get in touch on the email button above.

Outside of Ascentis Deane likes to play golf and spend time with friends and family.

Freya joined Ascentis in January 2021 and has experienced different roles at Ascentis including Commercial Administrator for Marketing and Regional Sales Assistant. Before Ascentis, Freya worked for a recruitment agency for British citizens to move to New Zealand.

Promoted to account management, Freya now looks after around 70 centres across the North of England and Yorkshire. Freya also deals with new business enquiries and is always happy to meet with new or existing centres either in person or virtually on MS Teams

Outside of Ascentis, Freya enjoys spending time with her friends and family. 

Matt joined Ascentis in September 2022 and has a background in account management & business development within the food wholesale industry.

Matt looks after our Ascentis centres in London, the South and the East Midlands of England. Matt is looking to meet new and existing centres throughout this academic year. If you’d like to arrange a visit please get in touch on the Email button above.

Outside of Ascentis Matt is a keen Cricketer.

Tom joined Ascentis in May 2024 and has a background in account management & sales within the Renewable Energy sector.

Tom looks after our centres across the South West, West Midlands & Wales. He is always happy to meet with new or existing centres either in person or over MS Teams. Please contact Tom on his e-mail above.

Outside of Ascentis, Tom likes to play and watch football.

Becky Sargent has been a core part of the People and Culture team since July 2016, progressing to her current role as our People and Culture Coordinator. With Becky's creativity, passion for fun and positive vibes, she focuses on projects which enhance our people experience, employee engagement, reward and recognition. Becky also has the digital bug, which means she continuously helps to improve digital processes in the team, for example, the People Portal. The People Portal is a digital platform, which supports performance and development planning, holiday bookings, recording of personal details, and much more. 

As our Head of People and Culture, Emma has proudly worked at Ascentis since March 2019 and is a fully qualified and experienced HR professional. Emma is truly passionate about continually developing the Ascentis group to be the best possible employer, for all of our wonderfully talented people. Emma develops our People and Culture strategy and drives this forward with the support of colleagues and the People and Culture team. The People and Culture strategy ensures that we create an environment and culture which fosters engagement, high performance, adaptability and effective team working. Emma takes pride in ensuring that our people are treated fairly, inclusively and supportively, through our range of forward-thinking policies and engagement strategies. 

Stacey recently joined the team in September 2022 as a People and Culture Advisor and has a whopping 14 years of experience in both SMEs and larger organisations in the private, public and third sectors. As a true generalist, Stacey’s role includes supporting managers and employees throughout the employment cycle in areas such as recruitment, policies and learning and development.

Stacey loves communicating and driving awareness of all things wellbeing, in fact, this makes her day! Stacey is passionate about Ascentis being a great place to work and enjoys working with employees at all levels to foster an environment that is inclusive and collaborative.  Outside of work you will usually find Stacey reading, spending time with friends and family or ferrying her children to and from their many clubs.