Our People

Jurgis V. Oniunas, Partner (x)

Founding Partner in Ascendant Capital Advisors, Croatia’s first independent M&A. Completed 11 M&A transactions (seven cross-border and four domestic) and a total transaction value over €85 million.

New York University, Stern School of Management, M.B.A. Finance and International Business; Columbia University, M.S. Nuclear Engineering; Manhattan College, B.E. Electrical Engineering. “George” originally a New Yorker, has been living in the region for over 20 years and speaks Croatian and Lithuanian fluently.

Kemal Sikiric, Partner (x)

10 years experience as Regional Investment manager and Country Manager for Croatia for Venture Capital / Private Equity Funds; Completed and exited numerous investments and acted as CEO, President /Member of the Supervisory Board of more than 10 companies with total investment volume in excess of € 80 million. BSc Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Sarajevo; Faculty of Economics, University of Dortmund. Kemal is originally from Sarajevo and speaks fluent German and English.

Alexander Paine, Partner (x)

Until 2007 a Manager for the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) implementing IFC’s largest private sector program in Southeast Europe. Investment Officer in IFC’s Oil and Gas Department - investments, loan restructurings, insurance coverage, psa’s (@$200m). Masters in Business Administration – Cranfield, UK. Alex, originally from London speaks Italian and French fluently as well as Russian. Over 8 years experience in the region of SEE.

Slaven Kordic, Partner (x)

Responsible for pipeline development in SEE for major M&A group . 6 years as an Investment Manager for a VC/PE fund management group working in Croatia – focus on selection, structuring and negotiations of private equity investment. Member /President of the Supervisory Board of 5 Croatian companies. University of Zagreb- Business and Economics (BA). A fluent English speaker and a native of Zagreb.

Jana Davies, Senior Associate (x)

Previously worked as an Office manager and Assistant to Management Board in Gastro Grupa d.o.o.. Gained first working experience in various roles in Primary School, mostly as a Geography Teacher. Prof. of Geology and Geography, Faculty of Science, Zagreb. A fluent English speaker.

Emir Bukvić, Senior Associate (x)

Prior to joining Ascendant, Emir spent 4 years working for Deloitte in Sarajevo where he reached the position of Senior Auditor. During this time Emir gained extensive knowledge in audit work including planning, analysis, financial statement testing and management report writing.

Emir gained an MBA from GISMA/Purdue Universities (Germany/USA) and has a bachelor degree in IT (Hons) from the International Islamic University of Malaysia, he is currently completing his qualifying examinations for the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants. Emir speaks Bosnian, English and basic German.

Jurica Miličević, Senior Consultant (x)

Prior to joining Ascendant Jurica acted as Executive Director of the SME department at the Croatian Post Bank. With nine years in the Banking sector Jurica has extensive experience in the structuring and negotiating of debt based financing products focusing on transactions to large multinationals operating in Croatia, SME financing and international financial institutions.

His first degree is from WU Vienna University of Economics & Business Administration (Corporate Finance); and a Masters completed at the prestigious Bocconi University in Milan where he received a Masters in International Management). Jurica speaks Croatian, German, English and Italian.

Senka Bobic, Senior Associate (x)

Senka has spent the past 7 years working for a leading venture capital fund operating a number of funds targeting Small and Medium sized companies with equity investments. Senka has experience throughout the life cycle of an investment starting with due diligence and ending up with hands on exit experience. A Graduate from the Zagreb University Faculty of Economics, major Finance. Fluent English speaker.

Josipa Niksic, Associate (x)

Graduated Analysis and Business planning at the Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb in December 2008. Gained experience in finance and accounting, market research and sales in various companies and institutions through student jobs. Speaks fluent English and Italian language.

Edisa Zorlak, Associate (x)

Graduated at the Faculty of Economics at the University of Sarajevo, Department: Banking and Insurance. Currently attending Master studies in Banking at the Faculty of Economics in Sarajevo. Previously worked for HR & Consultancy company as a project manager. Fluent English speaker.

Tarik Bilalbegovic, Partner, Ascendant Project Finance (x)

Investment Banker with 10 years emerging market experience in financing real-estate. hospitality, and infrastructure projects ($2 billion in aggregate). Focused on financial and legal structures, structuring and raising equity and debt capital. BA degree from Grinnell College in Iowa in Political Science, M.A. degree in International Economics from Johns Hopkins University in Washington DC, and a Ph.D. candidate at George Mason University in Conflict Management in Arlington, Virginia. Tarik is originally from Banja Luka and speaks English fluently.

Sergio Ermacora, Associate Director (x)

Sergio has 5 year of relevant experience in the Bosnian financial industry, working as a financial analyst for leading banks and brokerage businesses in the country. In addition, besides that, he gained important experience as an M&A analyst with Prevent, one of the leading regional automotive companies and amongst the largest European manufacturers of seat covers. Staffordshire University, Business School, Msc in Business Analysis finished in 2006; University of Rijeka, Economic Faculty in Pula, Bsc in Economics (Finance). Originally from Pula (Croatia), native Croatian speaker as well as fluent in Italian and English.

Vuk Djukic, Associate (x)

Prior to joining Ascendant, he was an Investment Analyst at the SEAF venture fund in Serbia, active in deal sourcing and due diligence of potential acquisitions. His background includes financial positions in the Sintesa Invest Group one of Serbia’s leading brokerage houses as well as working as a financial analyst for Philip Morris. Cumulatively has 5 years experience in the financial sector. Holds a B.Sc. degree in International Business and European Affairs from the American College of Greece, Athens and besides his native Serbian, is fluent in Greek and English.

Mila Cucek, Analyst (x)

Student, Libertas Business School, Management, Banking, Insurance and Finance
Languages: Croatian/Slovenian, English, German

Marko Bilos, Senior Associate (x)

Marko comes from nearly four years in the KPMG Auditing Team for Croatia where he was a Supervisor. In this role he gained extensive experience in auditing and preparing Financial statements in accordance with IFRS and CFRS. During that time he also worked on a number of Financial Advisory Engagements. He is currently studying for his ACCA qualifications (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants). Marko holds a BA in Economics from Zagreb University and speaks English fluently.

Silvija Ravlić, Associate (x)

A Graduate of the Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb, Finance Department. Enrolled in the CFA Program, passed level 2 of the CFA exam. Silvija started her career four years ago at one of the leading regional asset management companies where she became a registered broker and gained experience in preparing company valuations, analyzing and trading various securities, analyzing macroeconomic environment. Silvija is a fluent English speaker.