Patrice Hiddinga

CEO ASCEND

Paris, Île-de-France, France

About

I lead ASCEND TECH, a mission-driven software company building Harnest, the platform turning ESG data from a reporting obligation into a driver of business value. With Harnest, we help companies and financial actors share, manage, and trust extra-financial data across standards, sectors, and transactions. From compliance to capital allocation, we enable a smarter, auditable ESG infrastructure that supports real-world decision-making. Before founding ASCEND, I was the founder and CEO of Manaos, an award-winning open architecture platform for institutional investors and ESG data specialists. Before that, I held various leadership roles in corporate strategy at Deutsche Börse and BNP Paribas. I led and contributed to several impactful initiatives and projects in Europe, China, India, and the US. I hold an Executive MBA from Université Paris Dauphine and Université du Québec à Montréal, and I am certified in Mergers and Acquisitions, Sustainability, and Fintech.

Experience

  • Chief Executive Officer at ASCEND
    Jan 2023 - Present · 3 yrs 6 mos

    Building Harnest, the platform that transforms ESG data from a reporting burden into a strategic asset. Multi-standard, auditable, and collaborative, enabling better decisions for companies, investors, and auditors.

  • Interim CEO at Asset Impact
    Jul 2022 - Dec 2022 · 6 mos

    Asset Impact, formerly Asset Resolution, is a mission-driven specialist provider of climate data and analytics that financial institutions use to set the global economy toward net zero emissions. The asset-based products cover the most carbon-intensive sectors of the global economy.

  • Chief Executive Officer at manaos
    Jun 2019 - Mar 2022 · 2 yrs 10 mos

    Founder and CEO of the award-winning Open Architecture platform for institutional investors, fintech, and ESG data specialists

  • Managing Director, Strategy at BNP Paribas CIB
    Sep 2017 - May 2019 · 1 yr 9 mos

    Set up and steered an institutional partnership between BNP Paribas and BlackRock.

  • Associate Partner at Granada
    Feb 2016 - Nov 2016 · 10 mos

    Designed and launched a KYC data-sharing platform based on a distributed ledger.