SteveConwell
Steve is an accomplished entrepreneur with over 25 years of business advisory and financial consulting experience. Steve is passionate about helping business owners creatively tackle their biggest challenges and successfully grow their businesses. Throughout his career, he leveraged public accounting, internal audit and controls experience with Fortune 500 and middle market companies, always returning to his entrepreneurial roots.
Steve is the CEO of Final Ascent LLC, bringing his passion and energy as an accomplished business owner to entrepreneurs who want to sell their businesses. He helps owners prepare their businesses for sale, transforming their businesses into built to sell companies and maximizing their value at exit. Final Ascent as a whole is a national leading mergers & acquisitions, exit strategy and legacy planning firm serving middle-market business owners navigate the exit journey.
Steve graduated in 1993 with his Bachelors and Masters of Science in Accounting/Auditing and is a member of several professional associations. He is a Certified Value Builder and expert in getting companies “built to sell.” Steve Conwell volunteers as the Vice President of the University of North Texas Alumni Association for Denton County since the 2021/2022 season. He is the Founder and President of the newly launched Dallas Exit Planning Exchange Chapter, which will go-live in early 2022. He's also a member of the Board for AEC Equities, a Private Equity Group that acquires architecture, engineering and construction firms.
Steve was the past president of the Fort Worth Institute of Internal Auditors. He was a National Board Member and Dallas Advisory Council Chairman with the American Lung Association. He is an accomplished speaker, presenting several topics on business and entrepreneurship to business leaders and college students. He is also a Vistage Speaker, presenting to CEOs and business owners on “Navigating Your Exit Journey to Maximize Your Payoff.”
Steve is a native Texas and attended nine different schools growing up. It’s why he embraces change and loves thinking out-of-the-box. He lives in Dallas with his college sweetheart and two children, and he’s proud to say he’s a fledgling empty nester.
From 1993 to 2002, Steve worked at Ernst & Young in public accounting, business advisory services and technology auditing. At Whitman-Hart, Steve served as the COO of the Dallas office and Global Director of Business Operations across the 72-office, $2b management consulting firm.
In 2002, he began his entrepreneurial adventures co-founding and building ECC, a national consulting and recruiting firm. The company led global risk and controls engagements for Fortune 500 and middle market clients, partnering with Tier-1 accounting firms. He successfully sold the business in 2008. Steve realized at this time he had a passion and love for business owners and their entrepreneurial spirit.
From 2009 to early 2017, Steve was the Market President of a consulting firm that provided professional accountants to small businesses to complement their internal accounting staff. Most recently, he was the interim CFO for Rylex Capital in residential real estate. He led the cash to accrual conversion and the year-one audit, earning an unqualified audit opinion from the 8th largest public accounting firm.