Meet the Team
Meet the Team
Our Ascent team brings together people from diverse backgrounds, who all have experience of working with CRM software. We have worked with all sizes of businesses, from SMEs to FTSE corporations.
Edward Rochford
Chief Executive Officer
Ed is our Managing Director and recognised CRM thought leader, with an unrivalled 30 years of experience in IT systems. Throughout his career, Ed has been presented with almost every challenge businesses face in the real-world, specialising in designing new CRM systems to solve those problems. After many successful CRM implementations, Ed has implemented sales, finance, operations, and production systems across over 250 industries. With a knack of identifying systemised solutions and a real gift for BI Reporting, he designs CRMs that resolve issues customers have struggled with for years. Ed approaches CRM from a helicopter view, recognising that solutions which work for one industry can be adapted effectively to another.
Andrew Krauze
Chief Revenue Officer
After qualifying as an accountant, Andrew started his career in the application software industry in the early 1980s. He founded Computer Consultants Limited (CCL) in 1986, an ERP consultancy that became the largest of its kind in the UK by the mid-1990s. In 2001, he founded CCL Forensics, which grew to become the largest privately owned digital forensics company in Europe. In 2017, Andrew sold both businesses, and after a brief two-week retirement, he decided to become a serial Non-Executive Director. Andrew started working with Ascent in early 2025, by initially advising the business on a scalable growth plan. After collaborating with the team and developing a three-year growth strategy, he was invited to join as Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) to implement the plan.
Nina Laurenti
Operations Manager
Nina Laurenti is an operations manager with over 20 years of experience in quality control within the automotive industry. She implements robust processes and customer success strategies to ensure every project is delivered on time and within budget for each client. Nina is pragmatic, excelling at resource planning and keeping projects on track to deliver successful outcomes for each client.
Tabish Alam
Senior CRM Consultant
Tabish is a CRM strategist who helps businesses transform the way they manage customers, processes, and growth. With over 15 years in CRM implementations and deep expertise in the Zoho suite, he specialises in designing scalable systems that give businesses a complete view of their customers. Tabish specialises in solving real business problems by improving efficiency, tightening processes, and turning scattered data into actionable insights. He has delivered CRM solutions for businesses across multiple industries, including manufacturing, education, financial services, technology, professional services, and more. If your business needs a CRM that truly works for your people, Tabish brings the strategy and expertise to make it happen.
Stuart Summers
Sales Manager
Stuart Summers is a professional salesperson with over 20 years of experience working in IT Sales. He brings deep expertise in sales management, and has coordinated hundreds of successful CRM implementation and optimisation projects. Stuart is passionate about helping customers streamline their processes to save time and money, while giving them clear visibility into their sales pipeline. As part of the sales team that helped Ascent achieve the Best Zoho Partner award, Stuart is always ready to take on a new challenge.
Ineel Kler
Growth Marketing Executive
Ineel is a seasoned digital marketing professional with ecommerce experience. After earning his Digital Marketing Apprenticeship, he has developed technical knowledge and experience in executing successful campaigns across the channels of SEO, Email and Affiliates to drive lead generation and optimise website traffic. He has experience of running Email Marketing campaigns with the CRM platforms of Dot Digital, HubSpot and Klaviyo.
Richard Laurenti
Technical Team Leader
Richard Laurenti has over 25 years of software development experience across various industries, including logistics, sales, and marketing systems. Nowadays, he specialises in developing complex CRM systems for large businesses. If there is a complicated system, you will find Richard involved.
Joel Lipman
Technical Consultant
Joel Lipman is a Technical Consultant with over 20 years of experience in the education sector. Starting his career in second line technical support, Joel has developed expertise in coding, CRM systems, and complex API integrations through technical roles in application support and business intelligence. Currently, he is one of our expert consultants, overseeing successful CRM implementations for businesses across the entire Zoho product suite.
Sarah Fricker
Technical Consultant
Sarah is a Technical Consultant with a wealth of experience in sales and CRM systems. Starting her career in luxury retail, Sarah has managed client relationships using both paper-based systems and CRM databases to understand and address customer pain points. With a Computer Science degree and extensive knowledge of business applications, Sarah now builds and designs user-friendly CRM solutions for businesses across the full Zoho suite. She specialises in translating complex business requirements into successful CRM implementations that drive long-term growth.
Jonathan Sayce-Jones
Technical Consultant
Jonathan Sayce-Jones is a Technical Consultant with a wealth of experience developing bespoke functionality in CRM systems. He specialises in setting up CRMs by building bespoke integrations and robust backend functionality. His technical expertise covers the full spectrum – from integrating CRMs with apps like WorldPay and WooCommerce, automating digital signature processes, to automatically producing files which require special formatting for banking suites. Jonathan also specialises in data cleansing, seamlessly fitting legacy datasets into new CRM formats.
Elizabeth Clarke
Business Analyst & Design Consultant
Elizabeth is a Design Consultant with a wealth of experience in Sales, Operations, Web Development, and optimising tech stacks. She has deep technical expertise in deploying and customising Zoho One CRM solutions. With a passion for problem-solving, Elizabeth works closely with customers to understand their challenges and builds CRM systems aligned with their ideal processes.
Zanna McKail
Brand & Design Consultant
Zanna is a Design Consultant with over 25 years of experience across brand strategy, UX/UI, visual identity, and creative governance.
Let’s Talk About Your CRM
Whether you’re exploring CRM for the first time or looking to get the most out of your current system, we’d love to help you.
Book an introduction call with one of our consultants, or reach out at info@ascentbusiness.co.uk