Who We Are

Who we are

Our Core Values

Client Satisfaction

Serving our clients is our highest priority. Everything we do serves this purpose directly or indirectly. We respect our clients, take the time to understand their strategic goals and ensure our work delivers impactful results. We provide unbiased advice, guidance and solutions. Each satisfied client is a milestone for Ascent Consulting.

Employee Satisfaction

We help our employees realize their strengths and desires, acknowledge them for their contributions, support them in delivering outstanding value for our clients, and provide authentic and timely feedback.

Integrity

We do what we say we’ll do. We honor our commitments to our clients and our team members. We communicate openly and authentically, and encourage our employees to adhere to the highest standards of ethics and professionalism in everything they do.

Community Participation

We involve ourselves in our industry as active members and contribute to our community. We provide valuable, free content and information, and believe that our current participation is a reflection of our long-term relationship with our community.

Our Team

Adam Cooper

President

Jeff Robertson

Senior Consultant

Kodili Okechukwu

Marketing Specialist

Carolyn Bahr

Project Coordinator

Associations

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400 Interstate North Pkwy
Suite 500
Atlanta, GA 30339
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Carolyn Bahr

Project Coordinator

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Carolyn brings 15+ years of project management, organizational design and leadership development experience from the non-profit and for-profit sectors. She began her career in the construction industry as a Store Opening Coordinator for a major retail chain in the Midwest. She now enjoys applying her knowledge, skills, and talents to serve the Ascent team and our clientele.

Kodili Okechukwu

Marketing Specialist

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Kodili is the Marketing Specialist at Ascent Consulting. Previously, she served as the Marketing & Volunteer Relations Coordinator at an Atlanta Non-Profit Organization. Raised in New Orleans, she moved to Atlanta to pursue a profession in marketing. Kodili received a Bachelor’s of Science from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, LA. While there, she majored in Marketing & Communications Studies. With several internships and positions in the marketing field under her belt, Kodili uses her skills and experience to make a powerful impact on the success of Ascent Consulting.

Jeff Robertson

Principal | Senior Consultant

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With over 30 years of experience in commercial construction, Jeff has seen the industry from many angles: the business end of a shovel as a field laborer, Project Management of projects ranging from $3M to $100M, and Operations Manager leading a Business Unit responsible for total revenue in excess of $100M annually.

Jeff has worked all over the Southeast and built in a variety of market sectors including Retail, Senior Living, Multi-Family and Healthcare. He has also spent time on the Owners’ side of the business as a Development Manager.

His varied experience over the course of his career have earned him in-depth knowledge of the construction industry, including the complete lifecycle of construction projects, construction company operations, and what it takes to make the project(s) and company successful.

Jeff enjoys working with our clients to build their construction businesses and give back to an industry that has taught him so much.

Adam Cooper

President

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Adam started out as an electrical apprentice while in college pursuing an engineering degree. He decided to stay in the trades and worked his way up through the ranks of several large electrical contractors, eventually landing in Senior Project Management and Operational roles with several of the top Electrical Contractors in the United States. Additionally, he has worked for several specialty and general contractors and has owned three electrical contracting companies. He currently holds a Class II Unrestricted Electrical Contractors License in the State of Georgia.

With over two decades of experience in engineering, business, construction management, and operations, Adam made the decision to step away from contracting. He started Ascent Consulting as a way to give back to the construction & contracting community and now offers his knowledge and experience to organizations looking for ways to grow and improve.

  • Adam is an industry Xpert at EC&M Magazine and a contributing writer. You can check out his profile here.

Jack Austin

Marketing Coordinator

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Jack is a marketing and communications professional who joins Ascent following a three-year stint in the healthcare staffing industry. 

 

Working as a member of the Ascent marketing team, Jack performs internal marketing automation tasks, analyzes web and marketing metrics, and creates multimedia content to highlight recent success stories with Ascent clients.

 

Born and raised in the Metro Atlanta area, Jack graduated from the University of Georgia in 2019 with a B.A. in Journalism and a certificate in Sports Media. He then went on to earn an M.B.A. from Georgia State University in December 2022, concentrating in the areas of marketing and business analytics.

Rhonda Hudson

Construction Accountant

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Rhonda has three decades of diverse Controller experience that spans various aspects of construction, including manufacturing, mechanical, electrical, flooring, and residential building contracting. Rhonda has an Associate’s Degree in Accounting and has consistently demonstrated expertise in optimizing operational efficiencies, tracking financial performance, conducting annual audits, and building a process around the monthly close process.

In addition to her accounting work, Rhonda has a broad proficiency in a wide range of accounting software platforms and has a knack for adapting to new technologies swiftly. She has facilitated smooth transitions during software migrations and provided system training to numerous companies.

Bridgit Lawhead

Marketing Project Manager

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Bridgit is a Marketing Project Manager, bringing a proven track record of managing accounts and marketing for diverse industries. Prior to joining Ascent Consulting, she was a Marketing Strategist for a small marketing agency that focused on transforming financial advisors’ businesses. Working with Marketing, Sales, and Upper Management to ensure strategic performance and management of tasks to appropriate team members, Bridgit helps manage the planning, development, design, execution, monitoring, and completion of all of our client marketing projects. 
 
Bridgit holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Speech Communication, with an emphasis in Public Relations from Valdosta State University. 

Kellie Barber

Office Manager

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With a career spanning over 25 years in both the public and private sectors, Kellie stands as a seasoned professional and a valuable asset to our Ascent team. A dedicated, results-driven individual, Kellie brings a wealth of experience to the organization.

She is no stranger to the world of construction and has a comprehensive understanding from both the project management and engineering perspective.  Kellie has a keen eye for detail and a commitment to delivering excellence.

Nazia Hasnain

Project Coordinator

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Nazia joined Ascent in the role of a project coordinator. Before joining Ascent, she served as a Web Project Coordinator.

With a rich background of 5 years of experience in the digital realm, she has been at the forefront of coordinating and managing web projects from concept to launch. With a blend of technical expertise and project management skills, she is dedicated to contributing to the success of diverse projects to ensure that projects not only meet but exceed expectations.

Gary Johnson

Consultant

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Gary grew up working summers from 7th grade through graduating college for a large plumbing and process piping contractor in Mobile, AL. After graduating from Auburn University with a BS in Computer Engineering, Gary spent the next 16 years working in the industrial automation industry with The Foxboro Company and the ERP software solutions space with JD Edwards.  

The 7 years with JD Edwards were primarily focused on the construction business, providing ERP software solutions to both large general contractors and large homebuilders. In 2003 Gary acquired a small residential plumbing contracting business in Pace, FL.  Over the next 17 years, Gary grew this business to three physical locations and more than 130 employees, performing commercial and residential plumbing projects in Florida, Alabama and Mississippi. 

In 2020, Gary sold the business and continued to work for the company on a consulting basis for 2 more years. The unusual background, including providing construction industry ERP software solutions as well as nearly 20 years acquiring, growing, operating and ultimately selling a large subcontracting business, gives Gary a unique perspective on the operations of a construction company. Gary holds master plumbing and gas fitter licenses in Florida, Alabama and Mississippi.

Stephen Crawford

Junior Consultant

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Stephen possesses nearly a decade of extensive financial, operational, and leadership expertise spanning diverse professional sectors, primarily centered on construction, development, and construction management. Before joining Ascent Consulting, he spent five years as a CPA at Ernst & Young. He then made significant contributions to an electrical construction company in an internal consulting capacity. Subsequently, he pursued multiple freelance roles, including a pivotal position as a Fractional Chief Transformation Officer (CTO).

Throughout his career, Stephen adeptly guided companies through various rapid growth phases, overseeing crucial financial matters, driving strategic growth initiatives, and managing back-office functions. He holds a BBA in Accounting and a Master of Accountancy from The University of Georgia.

Zachary Hickman

Project Coordinator

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Zachary brings 10+ years of project management experience as an owners representative for clients and from the developer side of the business.

He began his career as an assistant project manager with a masonry subcontractor in Florida, before moving to Atlanta.

Daphene Koch

Consultant

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Daphene’s construction experience began working in her family’s mechanical construction company.

Next, she worked for a large EPC firm on projects in Texas and Malaysia. With over 15 years of construction industry experience on commercial and industrial projects. Her roles have included project manager, safety manager, construction services leader, and pipefitters helper.

While a professor at Purdue University in the School of Construction Management, she worked as a consultant to help construction companies improve processes, project management, workforce development to name a few. She has a BS, MS, and PhD from Purdue University and resides in Indiana.

Hakeem Slaughter

Marketing Coordinator

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Hakeem is a brand designer with over 10 years of experience. He has been a freelancer for about 9 years working with many different clients and industries under the following subjects: brand design, graphic design, web design, and social media marketing.

 

During that time freelancing, he also worked at many companies as a graphic and web designer. As well as taught disciplines of Art and Design to students varying from middle school age to college. As mentioned, he has a “jack of all trades” range but is quite proficient at WordPress and uses that knowledge to design cutting edge websites!

 

Hakeem specializes in branding, design, and creativity and is bringing his talents, skills, and passion to take Ascent Consulting to a new level!

Aimee Collier

Project Coordinator

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Aimee joins Ascent as a Project Coordinator supporting our Senior and Procore Consultants. With construction industry experience both in-field and back-of-house (ranging from project site coordination to contract management to software administration), she brings a holistic perspective of the day-to-day challenges faced by our clients. Her varied professional roles include software implementation and training, technical content creation and design, and coordinating across teams to bring projects to successful completion. She is excited to direct her passion for people and processes toward our customers.