Meet our executive management team

David Lyder

Executive Vice President, Ascentium Group Manager

David Lyder brings over 15 years of commercial finance experience to his role as Executive Vice President, Ascentium Group Manager. David joined Ascentium in 2014 as Senior Vice President, Direct Originations. After six years establishing and growing the direct organization, he was promoted to Senior Vice President, Sales & Marketing, driving strategy across both our vendor and direct channels. With his promotion to EVP, David now leads Ascentium Capital (a division of Regions Bank).

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.

Richard Baccaro

Senior Vice President, Ascentium Strategy Leader

Richard Baccaro is Senior Vice President, Ascentium Strategy Leader 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.

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.

Debra Battaglia

Senior Vice President, Ascentium Marketing

Prior to joining Ascentium Capital, Debbie was on her own consulting. However, the majority of her career was focused on the financial services sector. Debbie was the Marketing Vice President for EverBank Commercial Finance for thirteen years. She was part of the team that launched US Express Leasing and shepherded the company through two acquisitions with Tygris and EverBank. While at ECF, she oversaw co-brand and private-label programs with high net-worth clients spanning several industries. Before that, she spent ten years at CIT and its predecessor company, AT&T Capital Corporation, where she held various marketing and communications roles and worked on vendor finance programs with large manufacturers. Debbie earned her MBA in Marketing from Farleigh Dickinson University and holds a BS in Business with a minor in Studio Art from Skidmore College.

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.

Brian Varney

Senior Vice President, Ascentium Sales Leader

Brian Varney brings more than 23 years of industry experience to his role as Ascentium Sales Leader. Brian joined Ascentium Capital as SVP, Direct Sales in 2014 and played a pivotal role in building out a vastly successful direct originations channel. Prior to Ascentium, Brian worked his way up to Director of Sales for Direct Capital, a division of CIT, holding a multitude of roles throughout the company’s sales organization. Brian graduated from the University of New Hampshire with a BS in Business.