OUR TEAM

Experienced leadership with >$1 billion of deals led and overseen and a fully-fledged investment team in Ukraine & the Black Sea Region.

Mark Iwashko

Co-Managing Partner

Mark Iwashko, a US-born citizen of Ukrainian decent, is a Founder and the Co-Managing Partner of Diligent Capital.

Mark has over 25 years of experience in private equity in Ukraine and the CIS region. He started his career in 1996 at Western NIS Enterprise Fund, a $150 million USAID-funded private equity vehicle operating in Ukraine, Moldova, and Belarus, where he led the investment function as Chief Investment Officer (CIO) until spinning out in 2014 to co-found Horizon Capital. As CIO of Horizon, Mark oversaw investments in agribusiness, consumer goods, manufacturing, IT, construction materials, media, telecommunications, and financial services until he left to co-found Diligent Capital in 2013.

Mark holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, an MS in Mechanical Engineering from University of Illinois, and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from University of Colorado and has served on over 30 boards in privately held and publicly listed companies and NGOs.

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Dan Pasko

Co-Managing Partner

Dan Pasko has built his career around identifying and capitalizing on opportunities in Eastern Europe, working as an entrepreneur, investor, and independent board member. After successfully scaling his startup into a regional market leader and exiting the venture, he was admitted to Harvard Business School in 2008.

Following graduation, Dan began his career in private equity, first at Horizon Capital and later at Diligent Capital Partners. He has personally led over 15 transactions involving prominent companies such as Purcari Wines, Vitmark, Yednist Group, Allseeds, and Preply.

His expertise and reputation in the business community have earned him invitations to serve as an independent board member for industry leaders including Pivdenniy Bank, Kyivstar, and Nova Poshta.

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Gilles Mettetal

Chairman of Investment Committee

Gilles Mettetal has nearly 40 years of global experience in food, agriculture, and corporate finance. At the EBRD, he spent 23 years as Director of Agribusiness and interim Managing Director for the Corporate sector, leading over 600 transactions worth €10 billion. He advises key international institutions such as FAO, World Bank Group, ADB, and IFC.

Gilles works closely with private equity funds, serving as Investment Committee Chairman for Diligent Capital Partners (Ukraine), Senior Advisor at Capagro (France), and Operating Partner for the Meridiam Agri Transition Europe Fund. He has held board roles with global and regional firms, including Danone, Bonduelle, Astarta, and Nibulon, Ukraine’s largest grain exporter. He also chairs the advisory board of the African Agri Council. He holds agronomy, biology, and environment degrees, and has attended executive programs at Harvard Business School.

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Dan Yakub

Senior Partner and COO

Dan Yakub, a Ukrainian national, is a Founding Partner and Chief Operating Officer at Diligent Capital, where he oversees Transaction Execution and Investment Management. Dan has over ten years of experience in private equity and over seventeen years in finance.

Having graduated with an Executive MBA degree from University College Dublin in 2007 he began his career in finance at Citigroup Global Markets, leading IPOs for major fertiliser and agrichemical companies on the London Stock Exchange. At Citigroup and later UBS Investment Bank, he advised management teams and institutional investors on governance, industry strategy and equity portfolio allocations.

His experience spans equity capital markets, investment research, and M&A advisory across emerging Europe. Dan co-founded DCP in 2015 and served on multiple boards of Ukrainian companies, including Allseeds, Miratech, and YEDNIST’ Group, where he is currently Chairman. He also chairs the Board of the Children of Heroes Foundation (Netherlands) pro bono.

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Oleg Sirenko

Partner

Oleg Sirenko, a Ukrainian national, is a Partner at Diligent Capital Partners, where he leads Deal Sourcing, Transaction Execution, and oversees Portfolio Management activities. Oleg has over seven years of private equity experience and nearly a decade in finance and investments.

Oleg holds degrees from Kyiv National Economic University, Kyiv School of Economics, and the University of Houston. After starting his career in investment banking, he joined Diligent Capital Partners as an Analyst in 2019 and steadily advanced to Partner, contributing significantly to the growth of the firm’s first fund. He led investments totalling $17 million in Preply, a leading global online education platform, and built a robust deal pipeline across the food and agriculture value chain in Ukraine and the broader Black Sea region.

In addition to his role at DCP, Oleg serves on the Supervisory Board of the Ukrainian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (UVCA) and actively contributes to the development of the Ukrainian investment ecosystem.

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Cristina Harea

Country Manager: Moldova & Romania

Cristina Harea, a Romanian national born and raised in Moldova, has recently joined DCP team as Country Manager for Romania and Moldova. In this role, she is leading pipeline development and supporting the execution of the fund’s strategy across both countries.
With over 15 years of experience in private equity, Cristina served as Country Manager for Moldova at Horizon Capital and Gazelle Finance.

Over the past five years, she has worked in senior corporate investment roles at Prime Kapital and Agro Sinergia in Romania.Cristina has been actively involved across all stages of the investment cycle, managing a portfolio of over $50 million and serving on numerous corporate boards.

From 2016 to 2020, she served as Deputy Governor of the National Bank of Moldova, where she was part of a reform-driven leadership team transforming the Moldovan banking sector in the aftermath of a major fraud-related crisis.

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Mykola Klymchuk

Director, Corporate Governance
& Portfolio Management

Mykola Klymchuk, a Ukrainian national, is Director of Corporate Governance and Portfolio Management at Diligent Capital Partners. He has over five years of experience in private equity and is responsible for governance setup, Corporate Secretary functions, financial controlling, reporting, compliance, and value creation across portfolio companies.
Mykola has over 10 years of experience in finance.

At MHP (a leading Ukrainian and European poultry producer, LSE-listed), he was Senior IFRS Specialist, responsible for financial statements, exchange and Eurobond issue, and M&A projects. At Arricano Real Estate (a leading Ukrainian shopping center developer, formerly AIM-listed), he led budgeting, forecasting, BI development, and management reporting. He began his career at Baker Tilly, conducting due diligence in agribusiness, logistics, and seaport sectors.

Mykola holds a Master’s in Accounting and Audit from Kyiv National Economic University. He completed corporate governance programs at the Ukrainian Corporate Governance Academy and the Corporate Governance Institute (Duke Corporate Education).

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Dmytro Nazarenko

Senior Investment Analyst

Dmytro Nazarenko, a Ukrainian national, rejoined Diligent Capital Partners in 2024 to support the firm’s investment activities, with a focus on market research, financial modeling and deal execution. He has over five years of experience in private equity, real estate, and investment analysis.

Prior to rejoining DCP, Dmytro worked as a Feasibility & Investment Analyst at Selina, a global hospitality platform. He led underwriting for real estate projects, developed market entry strategies across EMEA and APAC, and built detailed financial models under various operating structures, including leases and HMAs.

Dmytro began his career at DCP as a Junior Analyst, contributing to investment execution and portfolio monitoring across sectors such as technology and real estate.
He holds a Bachelor’s degree in International Business Administration from the Vienna University of Economics and Business and completed an Erasmus+ exchange at Warwick Business School.

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Tetiana Kompaniets

Junior Analyst

Tetiana Kompaniiets, a Ukrainian national, is a Junior Analyst at Diligent Capital Partners, where she supports the Investment Team across both deal origination and execution. Her role includes conducting market research, industry analysis, company screening, and preparation of investment materials.

Tetiana has been involved in private equity for over a year. Prior to joining DCP, she completed internships in finance and real estate valuation. Tetiana holds a Master’s degree in Finance from the Kyiv School of Economics.

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Pylyp Yukhanov

Associate

Pylyp Yukhanov is an investment associate with over six years of experience in private equity, investment banking, and deal advisory. He joined Diligent Capital Partners in 2021, where he supports the firm’s investment activities, with a focus on deal execution, financial modelling, and market analysis

Before joining DCP, Pylyp gained experience at PwC in deal advisory and at a local investment bank, where he focused on the agriculture and IT sectors. His work included projects in agricultural logistics, meat and dairy production, sea terminals, grain farming. He also has experience attracting debt financing from DFI's to support the Ukrainian agricultural sector.

Pylyp holds a Master’s degree in Finance from Kyiv National Economic University and has successfully passed the CFA Level I exam.

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Marta Todosyuk

Finance Manager

Marta Todosiuk, a Ukrainian national, is a Financial Manager at Diligent Capital Partners, where she is focusing on Financial Management, Planning and Reporting dealing with corporate service providers, banks, auditors, institutional and private investors.
Marta has over thirteen years of experience in finance, tax and accounting function in multinational environment including Big4 experience.

Prior to joining DCP, Marta served as Chief Accountant at Ukraine-Moldova America Enterprise Fund where she was involved in financial reporting, budget preparation for Fund’s projects in Ukraine and Moldova, investment processes and cooperation with USAID on reporting matters.

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Oleg Akhtyrskyi

Legal Counsel

Oleg Akhtyrskyi has been with DCP since its early days, serving as Legal Counsel and bringing over 20 years of legal experience in Ukraine and internationally. He manages DCP’s internal legal and compliance functions and oversees the full spectrum of legal matters throughout all stages of the firm’s investment activities.

Oleg began his career in 1997 as in-house counsel at a renowned private equity fund with a $150 million portfolio under management. Since then, he has held senior roles at top international and Ukrainian law firms, most recently as Partner. Throughout his career, he has led multi-jurisdictional M&A, complex due diligence, and a wide range of debt and private equity projects. His expertise spans structured finance, securitisation, insolvency, debt recovery, and dispute resolution.

As a committed civil society advocate, Oleg has contributed to numerous legislative reform initiatives in Ukraine and led the Oxford Alumni Chapter in Ukraine for over a decade.

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Eric Maillebiau

Fundraising Agent

Eric Maillebiau is a fundraising agent at Diligent Capital Partners since 2017. Founder and Principal, at CapEos. Prior to founding CapEos, Eric held senior positions over a 16-year financial executive career covering the full PE spectrum, i.e., both for institutional investors (EBRD - European Bank for Reconstruction and Development), and for fund managers (AIG Investments and others).

Eric holds a PhD from UC Berkeley (Transportation Economics), and MS degrees from Ecole Polytechnique (Paris - Engineering), ENAC (Toulouse - Engineering) and Toulouse School of Economics (Mathematical Economics).

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Iryna Novikova

Executive Assistant/Team Coordinator

Iryna Novikova is an accomplished Executive Assistant and Team Coordinator with over eleven years of professional experience in management support, team coordination, and operational administration. At Diligent Capital Partners, she provides comprehensive support to the firm’s leadership and plays a key role in ensuring the smooth functioning of internal processes and team collaboration.

With a strong background in management support, Iryna is responsible for coordinating complex schedules, organizing internal and external meetings, and managing business travel for partners and team members.

Prior to joining Diligent Capital Partners, Iryna held various administrative and HR support roles in leading financial institutions and international companies, building a solid foundation in operational excellence and client-oriented service.

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