Five forces are reshaping how every enterprise must operate - and the margin for falling behind is closing fast.
The New Business Reality
It is rarely the strategy. It is almost always the execution gap.
Why Transformations Fail
If you hesitated on any of these, you are not alone - but you are flying blind.
The ASCEND™ Model fixes that.
Can you answer these five questions — today, with confidence, without asking your team for a report?
The Executive Blind Spot
ASCEND™ isn’t another PMO methodology. It’s the operating model that aligns strategy, governance, technology, processes, change, and execution into one measurable framework.
Between strategy and execution lies a gap that derails most transformations.
The Missing Operating Model
ASCEND™ is Averion’s six-stage, gated Executive Business Transformation Model.
A Proven Operating Model for Executive Transformation.
Prioritized path forward
Governance, risk, and ownership analysis
Value at stake framing
Portfolio & priority review
Current state assessment
A focused assessment that identifies the gaps preventing your transformation from delivering the intended value.
Executive
Transformation Diagnostic
Where Is Transformation Breaking Down?
Services
Bernie Waddleton
Managing Partner
Shari Kontrath
Managing Partner
Founder & Architect of the ASCEND™ Model
Collectively, our careers have spanned more than 65 years helping organizations translate ambition into value. While our professional paths have been distinctly different, they ultimately led us to the same conclusion: the traditional ways companies plan, govern, and execute strategic initiatives are no longer sufficient for the complexity and pace of today’s business environment.
That realization led to the creation of the ASCEND™ Model.
Today, strategy and execution can no longer operate as separate disciplines. Transformation is not an episodic initiative - it is an ongoing business capability. ASCEND™ is our proprietary operating model for connecting executive strategy to measurable execution, providing organizations with a structured path from strategic intent to business outcomes.
ASCEND™ provides leaders with a disciplined framework for navigating complex change. ASCEND™ addresses the full lifecycle of transformation - from executive governance and portfolio management to technology delivery, SDLC, go-to-market execution, organizational readiness, and business adoption. ASCEND™ connects leadership vision, enterprise goals, investment priorities, ROI expectations, and success measures to actionable initiatives, accountable ownership, timelines, and deliverables.
Executives gain a clear, real-time view of progress, performance, risk, and value realization across their strategic agenda.
Averion and The ASCEND™ Model bring clarity to ambiguity, connect strategy to execution, and help organizations build the capabilities required to deliver measurable and sustained business results.
Built on Experience. Focused on Impact.
About Averion
We Help Clarify
USE WHEN YOU NEED HELP WITH...
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Strategic initiative recovery
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Transformation planning & execution
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Product lifecycle (PLM)
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Software lifecycle (SDLC)
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IT / ERP / Data Migration
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PMO structure and governance
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AI / Automation adoption
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Value realization & dashboards
HOW IT WORKS:
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30-minute executive conversation
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Focused review of your initiative
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Practical recommendation - no obligation
A practical review to understand where a strategic initiative is healthy, where it is at risk, and what actions are needed to move forward with confidence.
Executive Strategic Initiative Review
Whether you are launching, scaling, or recovering a transformation product, technology, ERP, PMO, or AI initiative - Averion starts with a practical executive review to understand the work, the risks, and the best path forward.