ASCEND 2026 is officially in the books, and what a four days it was. From August 17 to 20, Solver customers, partners, and team members filled Nashville's Embassy Suites Downtown for training, breakout sessions, a product roadmap reveal, and more than a few nights of live music. Thank you to everyone who traveled in to learn, connect, and celebrate with us.
This year's theme, Amplify Intelligent Decisions, showed up everywhere from the session tracks to the honky tonk stage, and attendees left with new ways to put Solver to work across their organizations, plus a first look at what's coming next.
We asked a few attendees to share what stood out most from their week in Nashville, and their answers said as much about the Solver community as they did about the platform.
For Donna Vance, Financial Systems Information Analyst at Agrace Health, it came down to practical, immediate takeaways. "I have a list that I keep in my phone of Solver takeaways of things that I'm going to go back home and apply right away, and they're going to make my job more efficient."
Chris Folds, Senior P&A Manager at Gun Lake Casino, pointed to the training itself. As a newer user, he valued the depth of instruction and the manuals attendees could bring home, useful enough that his team picked up extra copies to share.
Carlos Peralta, CEO, andSeung Feacher, VP of Financial Strategy & Analytics at StratFin Advisors, highlighted the community side of the conference: connecting with customers across different industries and collaborating with fellow Solver partners.
Dillon Petz, Financial Analyst at Bible League International, echoed that same theme, calling out the chance to connect with other users and learn about upcoming features.
And for Neeyn Bland, Director of FP&A at OCHN, the value was strategic. She described seeing the platform as a way to eliminate manual work by extending Solver's data warehouse beyond their core financial system into the rest of their application stack, effectively giving the team a single source of truth.
Wednesday's welcome keynote set the tone for the rest of the conference. Solver CEO Nils Rasmussen and CTO Mike Applegate, hosted by Stephanie Johnstone, VP of Sales and Revenue Operations, spent an hour and a half walking attendees through the product roadmap. The headline was AI. New investments are coming to report creation and analysis, data mapping, and report design, giving finance teams more ways to move from raw data to a finished answer without as much manual lift.
That roadmap preview was just one part of the week. Attendees also spent their time in hands-on training and breakout sessions, earning up to 28.5 CPE credits combined across both. When we asked what people valued most about ASCEND, training and networking topped the list.
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"The evolution of Solver products has really changed how I mentor financial staff," said Jessie Newcomb of Brand USA, a sentiment that echoed through a lot of Monday and Tuesday's training classes. |
With 52 sessions across seven tracks and more than 50 speakers, there was a lot to choose from. A few stood out as the most popular of the week:
Allocations, Budgeting, and Consolidations
Report Design 1: Foundation
Trees and Rollups: Dimension Modeling Best Practices
Report Design 2: Next Steps
Unlocking Excel: Foundational Tools for Success
Budgeting & Reporting: Utilize Solver to Engage Your Leaders
Will AI Replace All of My Reports? Rethinking Analytics in the Age of AI
That mix of foundational training on one end and forward-looking AI questions on the other was a pretty accurate snapshot of where the Solver community is right now: strengthening the fundamentals while exploring ways AI can take tasks off their plate.
Tuesday brought the reveal of the 2026 Partner Awards. This year's winners took home platinum record awards, with the top honor earning a customized acoustic guitar. Congratulations to:
RSM (Revenue Growth and Impact)
Schneider Downs / SD Digital (AI Innovation Pioneer)
StratFin Advisors (Industry Vertical)
Charles Allen of Forvis Mazars (Excellence & Marketing)
LBMC (Breakout Partner Excellence)
Intellitec Solutions (Industry Expansion Excellence)
Wednesday's keynote also revealed the 2026 Customer Awards. Winners received framed platinum records, again with a customized acoustic guitar for the top prize. Congratulations to:
MRO (Loyalty Customer)
LCV (Technical Collaborator)
Cook Inlet Housing Authority (Top New Migration)
Municipal Association of South Carolina (ASCEND Ambassador)
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"ASCEND provides an outstanding opportunity to connect with the Solver team and partner community," said Patrick Armknecht, Shareholder at SD Digital. "The accessibility of Solver's resources and expertise allows us to accomplish a tremendous amount in just a few days, making the conference both productive and valuable." |
ASCEND didn't stop when the sessions ended. Tuesday's welcome reception took over Friends in Low Places, Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood's honky tonk, for a night of Nashville bites, live music, and no shortage of cowboy boots and denim.
Wednesday closed out with Whiskey Wednesday, a whiskey tasting from two local distilleries with live music from Nashville musician Chris Jones. It was the kind of relaxed, conversation-heavy evening that turns conference acquaintances into working relationships.
Thursday brought the week to a close with a lunch keynote that put three of Solver's own leaders in the hot seat, literally. Nils Rasmussen, Mike Applegate, and Corey Barak took on Solver's own version of Hot Ones, answering questions about the company while working through increasingly spicy hot sauce on chicken wings. It was a fun, memorable way to send everyone off.
None of ASCEND 2026 happens without the people behind it. Thank you to Solver's sales, consulting, and technical support teams for their work throughout the week, and to the guest partners and customers who shared their expertise as speakers. And special thanks to this year's sponsors: Baker Tilly, Enavate, Intellitec Solutions, RSM, StratFin Advisors, and ZieglerPro, for helping make it all possible.