Who We Are

Rooted in Agriculture

The foundation of Ascendant Partners is agriculture. We began advising middle market agribusinesses in 2005 and have become the boutique investment bank and business advisor of choice for clients across North America. Our expertise is along the agriculture value chain from row crop farming and commodity processing to renewable fuels refining and food ingredient manufacturing. Our experience includes working with our clients to create greater clarity and alignment in their business, securing capital for growth, and pulling it all together to successfully complete strategic M&A transactions. We are dedicated to agriculture and steward every opportunity to make a positive contribution to the industry.

Dedicated to Results

Our mission is to help our clients achieve superior results through trusted insight. We do this by providing a sophisticated, yet practical, approach to navigate significant challenges and opportunities. Engagement with Ascendant not only gets the job done, but gets it done better than doing it alone. We work to understand your objectives up front, then get to work in a collaborative way to deliver success — always putting you first. While no one person can see the full picture, we believe that with experienced advisors, plans succeed. That’s our focus — to bring comprehensive clarity to our clients and get the job done.

A Trusted Extension of Your Team

At Ascendant, trust matters. We work to earn and keep our client’s trust for the long term through complete integrity, honest communication, and ownership mentality. We put the interests of our clients first, not ours. We share information, both good and bad, early and often. Our client’s challenges and opportunities are our challenges and opportunities. We live where our clients live, share a passion for what our clients value, and are dedicated to their success first.

Meet Our Team

Mark Warren
Mark Warren

Mark Warren

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Partner

Mark Warren is the Managing Partner of the firm, based in Denver. Mark brings over 25 years of financial and industry experience to our clients. His experience includes strategic, financial, and business advisory services in the food, agribusiness, and bio-energy industry segments. His experience includes strategic development, mergers and acquisitions, capital raising and formation, turnaround initiatives, and performance improvement assessments. Prior to cofounding Ascendant Partners, Mark was one of the founding principals of Business Advisory Services for CoBank. His prior experience also includes being chief financial officer for a start-up manufacturing firm. A native of Tennessee, Mark received his bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Kentucky and his master’s in business administration from Xavier University. He is licensed with FINRA as a registered investment banking representative. Mark lives in Denver with his wife, son and daughter and in his spare time, he enjoys all things outdoors — skiing, snowboarding, hunting, fly fishing, biking, hiking and kayaking

Dusty Clevenger
Dusty Clevenger

Dusty Clevenger

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Partner

Dusty Clevenger is a Partner at the firm, based in Kansas City. Dusty brings over 20 years of agribusiness experience including commercial, senior leadership, and business development roles at Archer Daniels Midland, Gavilon, Agspring and Ceres Global Ag. He’s built successful teams and businesses in collaboration with founders, owners, banks, and private equity partners. He is licensed with FINRA as a registered investment banking representative. Dusty grew up in his family’s agribusiness in central Nebraska and received a bachelor’s degree in agribusiness and his MBA from the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. He lives in Kansas City with his wife and two daughters who are active in volleyball, band, and horse riding.

Mark Spurgeon
Mark Spurgeon

Mark Spurgeon

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Principal

Mark Spurgeon is a Principal at Ascendant Partners and is based in Denver, CO. He has spent over 10 years in the renewable fuels, agribusiness, and food industries as an investment banker and direct investor at a family office. He has directly participated in nearly $1 billion of transactions and advisory assignments supporting operators and capital providers across multiple industry verticals. His experience includes strategic, financial, and business advisory services in the food, agribusiness, and renewable fuels industry segments, including strategic development, mergers and acquisitions, capital raising and formation, turnaround initiatives, and performance improvement assessments. Mark graduated from Iowa State University and is a CFA® charterholder. Mr. Spurgeon is licensed with FINRA as a registered investment banking representative. Mark grew up in rural northeast Iowa and currently lives in Denver with his wife and daughter and enjoys hiking, camping, and fly fishing throughout the mountains of Colorado.

Michael Cortese
Michael Cortese

Michael Cortese

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Principal

Michael Cortese is a Principal at Ascendant Partners, based in Denver, CO. He has been with the firm since 2016 serving clients in the food, agribusiness, and renewable fuels industries and brings over 10 years of financial advisory experience. Michael has directly participated in numerous M&A and capital raising transactions as an investment banker and helps clients with strategic development and other business and market advisory services. Michael graduated with a B.A. in Economics from Tufts University. Additionally, he holds Series 7, 66, and 79 securities licenses and is a CFA® charterholder. Michael lives in Denver with his wife and two daughters and in his free time, enjoys fly fishing, hiking, skiing, and other outdoor activities.

Decades of Relevant Experience

Our team brings a unique combination of executive leadership, commercial management, ag banking and financial expertise to our partnerships with our clients — all in an effort to ensure their success. We understand your business because we’ve been there. With over $3 billion of closed transactions, we have a track record of success ready to back you up — this is what we do.

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