Founder and CEO
Ascend
David Wurtzbacher founded Ascend with a vision to revitalize the CPA profession through an innovative growth platform that serves both firms and their clients. With a background in finance from Wake Forest and an MBA from Harvard, David has held leadership roles at JP Morgan and served as President and CFO of Lightwave Dental. Passionate about service, David embodies Ascend’s value of “Serve Whole-Heartedly,” believing in love as a core leadership value. Originally from Colorado, he now resides in Virginia with his wife and two children.
Technology has become the single biggest driver of capital demand in accounting, with firms investing heavily in AI, automation, workflow modernization, and tech stack optimization. But does private equity actually accelerate innovation, or simply provide the resources to move faster?
In this panel, technology leaders from three of the industry’s leading accounting platforms will discuss how access to capital, shared resources, and platform-level investments are influencing technology adoption across member firms. Attendees will gain insight into how firms are approaching AI, automation, tech stack consolidation, and operational modernization—and whether private equity is creating a meaningful competitive advantage in the race to build the accounting firm of the future.