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

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

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 B.A. in Agribusiness and his M.B.A. 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.

Andrew Howell

Partner

Andrew Howell is a Partner at the firm, based in Boston. Andrew brings over 10 years of agribusiness, private equity investing, and operations experience. He most recently served as the Director of Private Equity at Ceres Partners where he raised and deployed multiple funds focused across food & agriculture. Andrew holds a B.A. in Business Management from Jacksonville University and an M.B.A. from Rollins College – Crummer School of Business. Andrew lives outside of Boston with his wife and two daughters and enjoys golf, skiing, biking and traveling.

Trevor Warren

Principal

Trevor Warren is a Principal at the firm, based in Omaha. Trevor brings over 15 years of agribusiness and investment experience including corporate development, strategy, and private equity roles. He most recently served as Vice President with AGR Partners, a private equity fund focused on investing in businesses across the food and agriculture value chain. Earlier, Trevor served in corporate development roles for Agspring and Gavilon where he focused on agribusiness strategy, finance, and M&A. He began his career in investment management and equity research. Trevor earned a B.A. in Business Administration from New Mexico State University and an M.B.A. from Creighton University; he is also a CFA Charterholder. Trevor was raised on a family farm in Central Nebraska and is married with four children.

Daniel Zelazik

Principal

Dan is Principal at the firm and is based in Chicago. With over a decade of experience in agribusiness and finance, Dan brings a comprehensive skill set to our team. His background includes roles in mergers and acquisitions, strategic advisory, capital raising, credit underwriting, and commodity trading at Rabobank, and StoneX Group. Dan holds a bachelor’s degree in Agriculture Economics from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and an M.B.A from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. Dan resides in his hometown of Chicago with his wife, Jillian and their Golden Retriever. Dan enjoys cycling, podcasts and cheering on the Fighting Illini.

Austin Liepold

Vice President

Austin is Vice President at the firm and is based in Minneapolis. Austin brings more than a decade of strategic, financial, and operational experience across the agribusiness, food, and renewable energy sectors. Austin’s expertise includes mergers and acquisitions, commercial, business development, operational planning, and corporate strategy, with deep insight into the grain, oilseed, and energy value chains. Before joining Ascendant, Austin held multiple leadership roles at Ceres Global Ag Corp./Bartlett, where he led corporate development initiatives and served as a board representative for joint venture activities. Earlier in his career, he advised commercial grain elevators on spread and basis risk as part of the StoneX risk management team in Minneapolis. Austin holds degrees in Finance, Supply Chain Operations, and Economics from the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities. Austin lives outside of Minneapolis with his wife and twin boys and enjoys spending weekends together at the family farm in Okabena, MN.

Timothy Lipman

Senior Associate

Tim Lipman is an Senior Associate at the firm, based in Texas. Tim previously worked for two agriculture focused startups, Pairwise and Vayda, where he gained valuable experience in agribusiness including modeling, analysis and forecasting. Prior to these roles, Tim covered the U.S. feed ingredient market at IHS Markit as a commodities analyst. Tim has a B.A. in Applied Mathematics/Statistics and Geography from Macalester College and an M.B.A. from the Wisconsin School of Business. Tim resides in Houston, Texas with his wife.

Max Breshears

Senior Analyst

Max is an Analyst at the firm, based in Missouri. Prior to working with Ascendant Partners, Max worked as a pricing analyst at Yellow, an LTL freight provider, where he gained valuable experience in logistics, data analysis, and forecasting. Max earned a B.A. in Accounting and a M.B.A from Missouri State University. Max resides in Roeland Park, KS with his wife and enjoys rooting for his hometown teams, the Royals and Chiefs.

Meet Our Advisory Board

Mark Zenuk

Advisory Board Member

Mark Zenuk is Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Tillridge Global Agribusiness Partners overseeing direct equity investments in feed, food, and industrial product companies and also serves as Chairman of Bunge’s Board of Directors. Based in Dallas, he brings over 30 years of global agribusiness leadership to Ascendant’s advisory council,. Previously, Mark was a Partner and Managing Director at NGP Energy Capital Management and held multiple international executive roles at Archer Daniels Midland Company, including President of the Oilseeds business unit. He also held management roles at the Canadian Wheat Board, the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool, Stratas Foods, and Culinary International. Mark received his BS in Agricultural Economics from the University of Saskatchewan. He lives in Rowlett, Texas, and enjoys mountain biking and traveling.

Kirk Martin

Advisory Board Member

Kirk Martin brings over 40 years of experience helping privately held food and agribusiness companies succeed to Ascendant’s advisory council. His expertise includes strategic planning, corporate governance, and operational restructuring to improve supply chain control, mitigate commodity market risks, and enhance market sustainability. Previously, Kirk was the Co-Founder and President of Ascendant Partners, where he focused on improving until his retirement in 2022. He also previously served as Chairman of the Board for Ocean Mist Farms and Senior Vice President for COBANK, ACB. He currently serves as Chairman of the Board for Bengard Ranch. Kirk holds both a BS in Marketing and Finance and an MBA in Business Administration from DePaul University. Kirk and his wife Susan live in Denver and enjoy traveling, spending time with friends and family and getting out in the great outdoors.

Jennifer Wendrow

Advisory Board Member

Jennifer Wendrow brings over 30 years of commercial finance and banking experience to Ascendant’s advisory council. As a retired banking executive, Jennifer is focused on providing financial guidance to customers in the fertilizer, ag-chem, seed, grain, grain processing, food and grocery distribution sectors. Her prior experience includes commercial lending roles at BMO, American National Bank, Sumitomo Bank and Credit Agricole. A native of Illinois, Jennifer grew up on a small grain and hog farm in Northern Illinois. She received her bachelors degree in finance from Augustana College and her masters of business administration from the University of Chicago. Jennifer now lives in Southern California with her husband and two golden retrievers and enjoys travel, hiking, cooking, community involvement and enjoying the California sunshine.

Scott Foote

Advisory Board Member

Scott Foote is a Partner at Foote Cattle Company, a multi-faceted family agribusiness based in Hoxie, Kansas. Scott brings extensive operational and financial experience to Ascendant’s advisory council. His expertise includes managing five feedyards across Kansas and Nebraska, as well as overseeing diverse farming, ranching, and agricultural operations. Additionally, his family owns Outdoor Bank, which specializes in financing for recreational and agricultural land investments. Scott holds both undergraduate and graduate degrees in Agricultural Economics from Kansas State University. Scott lives in Hoxie with his wife, Michelle, and their five children. He enjoys attending Kansas City Chiefs, K-State, and Notre Dame football games with his family.

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 $5 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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