Our Team
Transforming and developing business leaders in every industry
Doug Harrison
Co-Founder, Entrepreneur and Business Strategist
I have always operated from a place of being of service to others that began with my origins of growing up on a dairy farm where we all contributed to the greater good of the family and community. My special sauce has always been to deeply empathize with clients and their customers to build products and communications that are at the same time familiar, yet wonderfully unique and inspiring.
Over the course of my life, I have successfully helped hundreds of brands and business of all shapes and sizes, including my own, to guild their go-to-market strategies. In the process, I have been Vendor of the Year at Coca-Cola and Finalist at Microsoft. My new book The Rise Framework shares the best practices of what I have learned that readers can directly apply to their own efforts.
The Rise family of offerings began as a passion project to better support my daughter with a chronic health condition and evolved dramatically as we recognized the lack of tools for Advisors to support their clients. We didn’t focus on cleverness, we focused on what would serve Clients and Advisors at the highest level to develop the worlds they want to live in for the rest of their lives and we are incredibly proud of this mission that has resulted in something quite wonderful.
Sandy Rasque
Co-Founder, COO AND 2.5 Master Maker
My origins into Keep Rising formed from my own negative weight loss experiences with other people’s depravation-based food and plans. Over time, I have come to appreciate how negative the weight loss business is anchored in depravation-based excursions into other people’s foods and plands. It wasn’t until I ditched the deprivation game and found enjoyable personally desirable lower-calorie options that the weight came off and stayed off. This became the foundation of everything we do… an abundance-based way of developing healthier habits people choose for a lifetime completed at the incredibly personal level with loving support.
Professionally, I have 25 years of experience in Health and Wellness spanning health insurance companies, home health agencies and high end, private physican practices.
Keep Rising has been built to solve every flaw in wellness solutions out there today. My story is like many others who are looking for more personalized uplifting approaches from their Advisors. I am prouder of what we have built here than anything else I have done professionally. I am the person we serve, and our platform has expanded to serve any type of goal.
The Rise Framework Team
Leslie Charm
STRATEGIC BOARD ADVISOR
Les has successfully operated and sold three multi-million dollar retail and tech businesses. His firm currently specializes in assisting troubled companies with financial and operating issues. Les is an award-winning lecturer at Babson College, with an MBA from Harvard.
Victoria Sassine
10,000 ENTREPRENEUR ORIGINATOR
Victoria is a business executive and private equity investor who brings her operating experience, board participation, and vast investing knowledge to entrepreneurs across a host of industries. Her expertise in creating scalable operational and financial processes for businesses at every level of growth and development is unparalleled. She also serves as a NYSE board director, lectures at Babson College, and helped launch Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses nationwide. Victoria earned her MBA from the University of Chicago and is a Certified Public Accountant.
IBRAHIM FIRAT
FACULTY, OPERATIONS EXPERTISE
Ibrahim is an international consultant and CEO. To gain a competitive edge, Ibrahim engages business owners worldwide through his work with the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program and Babson College. As a serial entrepreneur, Ibrahim has successfully founded and operated enterprises worldwide.
Josephine Firat
REGIONAL DIRECTOR - TEXAS
Josephine is a practitioner of entrepreneurship, having founded and grown multiple companies. While she is a CEO, her passion is working with and teaching other entrepreneurs. Josephine has been teaching entrepreneurship for 14 years worldwide as a guest lecturer at the University of St. Thomas, Rice University, the University of Houston Wolff Center for Entrepreneurship, and multiple trade and professional organizations. Josephine joined the Scale Smarter Partners team in 2019 to expand the program to the Southeast.
Larae Wright
REGIONAL DIRECTOR, INTERMOUNTAIN, AND ENTREPRENEURIAL MENTOR
LaRae Wright is a corporate executive turned entrepreneur where she applied her corporate experience and disciplines in building several successful businesses. She was instrumental in delivering Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Program in Utah and in the national blended program, and is recognized as an expert on growing small business and an advocate for entrepreneurs.
Connie Watson
ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT CONSULTANT
Connie is an Organizational Development consultant focusing on leadership development, employee learning and engagement, and strategic planning. She recently served as the Education Services Director for the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business Program in Philadelphia. In this role, she was the lead faculty for the program and managed the curriculum, learning experience, and business advising for the entrepreneurs who take part in this executive education experience.