Graham T. Benes is the president and CEO of Ascendant Development Corporation, a full-service real estate and development company that specializes in business parks, build-to-suit, and speculative office/flex and industrial buildings. Ascendant currently has about 500,000 square feet of industrial and flex product under construction in Colorado, and over 150 acres of land in various stages of development in Arizona and Colorado.

Prior to founding Ascendant in 2007, Benes was president of CMC Group, Inc. during which he managed the development of over 60 buildings nationwide in excess of two million square feet. Benes received his political science degree from the University of Colorado at Denver and spent time working in various political-oriented positions in Washington, D.C. and Denver. 

Benes currently serves as board chair for the Denver Chapter of the March of Dimes, and was a past board member of Brokers Benefitting Kids. He is involved with SIOR, NAIOP, the Urban Land Institute, the Children’s Hospital Foundation, the Children’s Museum of Denver, and St. Anne’s Episcopal School.

An Executive Committee member of the Metro Denver EDC, Benes says, "Being a part of the Metro Denver EDC allows me to see what types of prospective companies and industry clusters are considering Metro Denver for expansion or relocation, which in turn helps my company focus the marketing efforts for our projects."