Bright Ascension Appoints New COO and CFO

Dundee, UK, December, 11, 2023 - Bright Ascension Ltd., a Scottish space software technology provider, announced the appointment of Patricia Druken as its new Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Laura Calder as the new Chief Finance Officer (CFO).  The newly formed leadership team will focus on maximizing business growth opportunities and strengthening Bright Ascension’s position on global markets according to the company.

Druken is an accomplished executive with over 20 years of experience in technology leadership and operation. A former COO at Bell Procurement Management in Singapore, she spent the last 3 years transforming the company’s global structure, operating model, and technology. With 90% of the company previously in her reporting line, Patricia brings extensive people management experience to Bright Ascension’s operations.

Druken will focus on providing management, leadership and vision to the newly formed commercial team to ensure the company meets its objectives in securing the market and revenue for its HELIX products. Among others, Druken will be assisted by Richard Adams, formerly of Mix Telematics, who joins the company as the new Sales Director, and Anna White, a former Senior Product Owner at People’s Postcode Lottery, who is tasked with bridging the gap between engineering and commercial teams as Bright Ascension’s new Product Manager.

“Druken’s profound experience and expertise in implementing various management control structures for operations and expanding the company’s global footprint will be crucial in securing the future for HELIX and bringing our new products to the market,” said Peter Mendham, CEO at Bright Ascension. “As the bulk of engineering and development effort is nearing the release and the first HELIX products are preparing to enter their commercial life, we are putting more focus on building a stronger customer journey to help scale our sales and revenue generation processes.”

Laura Calder is promoted to CFO, having served one and a half years at Bright Ascension as a Finance Manager. During this time, she was instrumental in transforming the company’s finance and accounting function to significantly improve transparency and accountability. Laura will lead the company’s finance organisation, developing new strategies and helping Bright Ascension achieve its financial goals during the next phase of its development.

“As we prepare to re-shape the space software market with HELIX products, we are excited to see organisational changes that set us up for the future”, said Louise Stevenson, Head of People at Bright Ascension. “As a flexible, employee-owned and employee-centred software technology company, we are also particularly pleased to be able to crack the gender diversity code and attain gender equality in our leadership team. We feel the gender gap is still significant in the technology sector and we are proud to be able to help
fight the bias”.

From left to right: Richard Adams, Sales Director; Patricia Druken, COO; Anna White, Product Manager; and Laura Calder, CFO.