Cadiz Foundation Trustees

The Cadiz Foundation Trustees act in their individual capacity and as volunteers, and thus do not receive any personal gain from their role. As Trustees, these members are liable, accountable and ultimately responsible for all legal and financial aspects of the Foundation’s work.

Current Cadiz Foundation Trustees are:

Dan Ahern (Chairman)

Managing Director, Cadiz Securities
BSc (Civ Eng) (UCT), (Hons) (B & A) (Stell), MBA (Stell), MIFM

Dan started his career as a structural engineer with LTA and later Basil Read on large capital projects with a focus on heavy construction and complex multi-disciplinary civil engineering projects. While reading for his MBA in 1994 he joined Thirty Four South Research and Trading (TFS), a niche financial services company specialising in derivative solutions. In 1995 he became a director of TFS and was head of the equity derivatives desk. In 1998 Dan joined Cadiz on the equity derivatives desk. He has been rated as an equity derivatives analyst in the Financial Mail survey of South African institutions and asset managers. In 1999 he was appointed a director of Cadiz Financial Strategists (CFS) and promoted to managing director of CFS in 2004.

Ram Barkai

Chief Executive Officer, Cadiz Holdings
Chairman of the Executive Decision Forum
BSc (Hons) Computer Science & Maths (Institute of Science, Israel)
Appointed to the board: August 2005

Ram spent the early part of his career from 1987 in Japan and Hong Kong working for Jardine Fleming in proprietary trading and Asian hedge funds. He moved to South Africa in 1996 when he joined Cadiz to start the structured solutions division, the forerunner of Cadiz Specialised Asset Management and Cadiz Wealth. He was managing director of the asset management business from 1997 until his appointment as deputy chief executive officer in 2004. Ram was promoted to Chief Executive Officer in August 2005 and appointed as an executive director of Cadiz Holdings.

Heather Jackson

Head of SRI
BA(Hons)(Ec), CFA

Heather was one of the founding partners and Head of Fixed Interest of African Harvest Fund Managers since 1999, and was recognised as one of the leading bond managers in South Africa. African Harvest was acquired by CAM in 2006. Heather started her career as an economics and bond analyst at Merrill Lynch and subsequently spent three years working as a bond portfolio manager at Southern Life Asset Managers. Heather took over as Head of Investec’s Fixed Interest team in 1997, then joined Prudential Portfolio Managers in late 1998. Later Heather left, to set up African Harvest Fund Managers. Cadiz Asset Management have formed a pioneering joint venture with a social profit organization called GreaterGood SA in order to promote multiple returns for our investment products – commercial returns with a truly high social impact. The Principal Officers Association (POA), supported by Global Pensions UK, recently recognised Heather’s expertise and contribution to the Social Responsibility fund management industry by awarding Cadiz Asset Management with the “SRI Investor Of The Year (2009)” award. Heather is also very involved in advocacy for SRI in South Africa, and is currently the chairperson of the sub-committee on Responsible Investing for the Association for Savings and Investment in South Africa (ASISA). With almost 18 years investment experience, Heather has shared knowledge in numerous learning forums over the years.