It took him ten years to ascend to the position of vice president in the company.

ascend 是动词，由前缀 a-（表示"向上"）和词根 scend（来自拉丁语 scandere，意为"爬、上升"）组成，字面意思是"向上爬"，引申为"晋升、上升"的意思。