Co-founder of WordPerfect Corp. and chairman of the board of Thanksgiving Point, Ashton and his wife, Karen, are currently serving a three-year LDS mission in Toronto, Canada. They are expected to return in July 2007. In his absence, Ralph Rasmussen is serving as chairman of the board, and the Ashtons' assets are being managed by Beesmark Investments in Provo.

WordPerfect's wordprocessing software evolved from an idea for a computer research project Ashton conceived at the University of Utah in 1969. While teaching at Brigham Young University in 1978, he teamed up with Bruce Bastian and founded Satellite Software International, which was later renamed WordPerfect Corp. in 1982. By 1993, WordPerfect employed more than 5,000 people worldwide and had revenues of more than $700 million. In 1994, the company was bought by Novell Inc.

Ashton's assets include Thanksgiving Point, which comprises a 55-acre botanical garden, the Museum of Ancient Life, Farm Country and several retail shops, restaurants and a golf course. Founded in 1997, it attracts 1.2 million visitors annually. Excluding the Lehi attraction and an unspecified amount of property already sold to tenants of the Thanksgiving Point Business Park, the company is planning to develop the remainder of the former 700-acre plus property.