Jim Watt is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Ascendent Partners, LLC. Jim is responsible for managing the Firm, along with leading marketing, sales, and distribution. As the founder of eleven unique preceding insurance-related businesses to Ascendent Partners, LLC, he has consulted seasoned business executives, high net worth individuals and families and value creators in design, administration, and funding alternatives addressing complex tax, business succession, generational transfer, and key employee retention challenges for national and international clients.  

Active in global business, Jim is an authority on crafting business strategies to optimize tax planning and business succession outcomes. He is a frequent speaker at leadership conferences and is often quoted in insurance publications. He is also a former Chairman of the Worldwide Broker Network, the largest of its kind.

Jim holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Boston University's School of Management. He serves on multiple boards for insurance-related business concerns and is active with many Houston-based charities dedicated to improving children's health and education. With his wife Beth, he established the Ascendent Charitable Trust, which supports 150+ charities in and around Houston.

Scott brings a sharp understanding of finance to Ascendent, reinforced by a diverse business background, with emphasis on the legal structures involved in lending. 

His experience spans the investment-finance spectrum, including irrevocable life insurance trusts, asset-based hedge funds, private investment, M&A, securitization, project finance, insurance finance, capital markets finance and general banking. He’s been advisor and investor, manager and owner for a diverse range of businesses, as well as a limited partner in several funds.

After serving in the U.S. Air Force, Scott graduated magna cum laude from the University of Alabama with a B.S. in Accounting, winning the Hugo Black Fellowship and Outstanding Young Alumni awards. He also holds a JD from Vanderbilt Law, where he also served on its board of directors.

With a 25-year history building premium financing models, Mark helps determine the optimal structure for each client, leveraging experience funding large insurance policies using liquid and illiquid assets with little or no out-of-pocket expense.

Previously, Mark consulted for Carlyle Group and the investment banking firms of Goldman and Sachs, Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse, J.P. Morgan and many others. His clients include some of America’s wealthiest families, Fortune 500 companies, privately held corporations and charitable foundations.
 

Featured speaker and author of numerous articles on advanced estate planning and tax reduction, Mark also co-authored Estate Planning for the 21st Century. His lifetime membership in both the Million Dollar Round Table and Top of the Table is a distinction earned only by the world’s top 450 financial planners.