Varun Kota

Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer

Varun Kota is Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer at Ascend Speech & Debate. Originally from California, he has extensive experience as a debate coach, previously serving as an assistant coach at John F. Kennedy High School from 2016-2019, helping to transform a team without notable past successes into one that produced NSDA and TOC Champions in Congressional Debate. Leveraging his experience at John F. Kennedy High School, Varun co-founded Ascend Speech & Debate and serves as its Chief Operating Officer: since 2019, Ascend has taught 500+ students and every champion of the TOC in Congressional Debate this decade has been a member of Team Ascend. Varun attended Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, graduating Summa Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa. In his free time, Varun enjoys hanging out with his dog Rocky, traveling to a new country to explore new cuisines (Argentina is his favorite!), and recreational horseback riding.