Ascendant Partners Inc. is pleased to announce two new additions to the ethanol performance improvement initiative. Lincolnland Agri-Energy and Western Plains Energy are the newest addition to the group of independent ethanol companies that participate and lead the group. The performance improvement participants seek to improve shareholder value through strategic and tactical improvement of their plants. Ascendant facilitates an interactive collaboration between independent companies centered around strategic selection and implementation of technology improvements and tactical plant-level operational performance improvements.

Real financial and operational performance improvement is grounded in the quantitative analysis of quality company financial and operational performance data. It is very difficult for independent business management to have the perspective to know where the business is performing well and where it is performing poorly. The best way for the independent mid-size companies to stay long-term competitive against larger agribusiness, food and renewable energy companies is to work together to leverage peer benchmarking and collaboration on key strategic performance initiatives in order to pursue business performance improvement.

Ascendant Partners is a business and financial advisory firm dedicated to helping mid-size agribusiness, food and renewable energy companies protect and enhance shareholder value. Ascendant lives where its clients live, shares a passion for what they do, and is dedicated to client success first.