Meet our executive management team

Thomas Depping

Executive Vice President, Ascentium Group Manager

Tom Depping, Executive Vice President, Ascentium Group Manager, has over 30 years of experience in commercial finance and bank lending. Looking to fill a market need to bring efficiency, service excellence and competitive financing products to small businesses, it was Tom’s vision that resulted in the creation of Ascentium Capital. In August 2011 Main Street Bank’s lending platform was acquired by Ascentium Capital to create an independent finance company built on service excellence.

Tom, along with a group of investors, acquired Main Street Bank in 2004 and became its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Under Tom’s leadership, Main Street Bank created a small business lending platform and quickly grew from a local community bank to a national small business lender with $500 million in assets.

Prior to his tenure at Main Street Bank, in 1994 Tom founded and served as Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of First Sierra Financial, Inc., a publicly-held, small-business finance company. First Sierra, under Tom’s direction grew from a start-up to a company with $3 billion in assets and a best-in-class servicing platform that provided unparalleled automation and process efficiency. First Sierra was sold to American Express in 2001.

Tom was with SunAmerica Financial Resources and its predecessor, First City Leasing Corporation, from 1981 to 1994 and served as President from 1991 to 1994. SunAmerica Financial Resources was an equipment leasing, merchant bank operation that bought and sold equipment lease portfolios. As President, in a two-year span, Tom took the company from $1.1 million in pretax earnings to $13.73 million.

Tom was named Houston's financial-services company Entrepreneur of the Year in 1998. Tom is a Certified Public Accountant and began his professional career with KPMG. Tom graduated cum laude from Eastern Michigan University.

Eric Lemire

Senior Vice President, Ascentium Operations

Eric Lemire, Senior Vice President, Ascentium Operations, brings over 14 years of financial experience. Eric started his career with Concord Commercial, a division of HSBC in Buffalo, NY. The division was acquired by Alter Moneta in 2004 and he became the Treasurer for their Montreal office in Canada. Eric then led Treasury at Mericap Credit and subsequently worked as the Senior Vice President Capital Markets and Treasury Manager for First American Equipment Finance.

Eric joined Ascentium Capital in 2012, as Senior Vice President of Finance and managed budgeting, forecasting, reporting, tax planning and general corporate finance. He was also on the Wholesale Truck and Finance Board of Directors.

Eric obtained an MBA from Canisius College where he graduated with the highest GPA in the school and was inducted to Beta Gamma Sigma Honorary Business School Society and also has a Bachelors in Business Administration from the Quebec University in Montreal.

Richard Baccaro

Senior Vice President, Ascentium Vendor Sales

Richard Baccaro is Senior Vice President, Ascentium Vendor Sales and has over 30 years of expertise.  In 1985 he was a partner with a Princeton, NJ lessor. He co-founded ICC in 1991 which was acquired by First Sierra where he became EVP of Sales. In 2001, First Sierra was acquired by American Express where he was the EVP of Sales & Marketing. Later, he co-founded AEF and served as the CEO until merging with Ascentium. Richard graduated from Rowan University with a degree in Business.

Daniel Bocash

Senior Vice President, Ascentium Asset Management

Daniel Bocash is Senior Vice President, Ascentium Asset Management and oversees portfolio servicing for the company. Daniel brings over 25 years of expertise in a variety of areas including customer care, collections, litigation, asset sales and repossessions. Prior to Ascentium, Daniel held positions with Direct Capital, a Division of CIT, managing all aspects of portfolio servicing. Daniel’s extensive background in management has afforded the opportunity to work for leading organizations including Nationwide Credit, Capital Credit Corporation and OSI.

Ben Earthman

Senior Vice President, Ascentium Legal

Ben Earthman is Senior Vice President, Ascentium Legal, with responsibility for legal activities including support for the company’s origination and portfolio acquisitions. Ben has over 15 years of experience as a financial services attorney with an emphasis on structured finance, commercial lending and equipment leasing.  Prior to joining Ascentium, Ben was Deputy General Counsel of Republic Financial Corporation. Ben also held attorney positions at law firms including Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP, Mayer Brown LLP and Winston & Strawn LLP. Ben earned a B.A. from Christian Brothers University and a J.D. from The University of Memphis.

David Lyder

Senior Vice President, Ascentium Sales & Marketing

David Lyder, CPA, CMA is Senior Vice President, Ascentium Sales & Marketing. David joined Ascentium Capital in 2014. Prior to Ascentium, David served as the Senior Vice President of Finance and Operations for Direct Capital (a division of CIT). Before entering the equipment finance field, David was an audit manager with PriceWaterhouseCoopers in Boston, MA. David graduated from the University of Connecticut with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting.

David Pederson

Senior Vice President, Ascentium Technology

David Pederson is Senior Vice President, Ascentium Technology, and defines the technology roadmap and capabilities that fuel Ascentium Capital's overall business mission and goals. David has more than 25 years developing highly-scalable distributed software solutions for the financial services industry. He graduated with a BS in Computer Science from Minnesota State University.

Ozgen Sayginsoy 

Senior Vice President, Ascentium Risk Management

Ozgen Sayginsoy is the Senior Vice President, Ascentium Risk Management, with experience in risk management and analytics. Prior to joining Ascentium, Ozgen was Chief Credit, Market and Liquidity Risk Officer at Ocwen Financial Corporation. Prior to Ocwen, he was the Global Head of Default Analytics for Barclaycard, a division of Barclays, and previously held a leadership role in risk management at HSBC. Ozgen started his career in academia as an Asst. Professor of Econometrics at State University of New York in Albany. Ozgen holds Ph.D. and M.A. degrees in Economics from Cornell University, and an M.Sc. degree in Economics from the London School of Economics.

Hernan Traversone

Senior Vice President, Ascentium Credit

Hernan Traversone is Senior Vice President, Ascentium Credit. In this role, Hernan is responsible for underwriting and risk management. Hernan has more than 21 years of experience in the finance industry and in underwriting consumer and commercial credit. Hernan Traversone received his CLP certification in 2008 and attended the University of South Florida.