Executive Team
Executive Team
Meet the Cadiz Executive Team
We are a team of dedicated innovators committed to helping communities in need. Sustainably, responsibly, and respectfully cultivating the land at our ranch is a personal mission for each member of the Cadiz family. Each of us are devoted stewards of resources we are working to preserve while harnessing their power for the greater good.
Our team has devoted a combined 100 years working together towards a brighter future for California.
Susan Kennedy
Chairman & CEO
Stan Speer
Chief Financial Officer
Cathryn Rivera
Chief Operating Officer
Courtney Degener
VP, Communications & External Relations
Teffiny Bagnara
Controller
Tim Shaheen
Director of Development
Lesley Thornburg
Operations Manager
Susan Kennedy | Chairman & CEO
Susan Kennedy is Chairman of the Cadiz Board of Directors and CEO of the Company. Ms. Kennedy joined the Board in February 2021 and was elected Chairman in February 2022. In January 2024, Ms. Kennedy was appointed CEO.
Ms. Kennedy has led a distinguished career as a policymaker and entrepreneur, a top advisor to two California Governors, former Commissioner of the California Public Utilities Commission, and founder and chief executive of a distributed energy company. Ms. Kennedy joined the Board of Directors of Cadiz, Inc. in March 2021 and currently serves as Executive Chair of the water solutions company, which is headquartered in LA and has infrastructure assets in San Bernardino, LA and Kern County.
Prior to entering the private sector, Ms. Kennedy served for two decades at the highest levels of California government, including chief of staff to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and cabinet secretary to Governor Gray Davis. From 2003 to 2006, Ms. Kennedy served as Commissioner of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), which regulates the state’s investor-owned utilities. In this role, she oversaw the CPUC’s efforts to ensure water utilities deliver clean, safe, and reliable water to their customers at reasonable rates.
In her leadership role for two California Governors, Ms. Kennedy was responsible for negotiating some of the largest agreements among agricultural interests, environmentalists, rural and urban water users for multi-billion-dollar investments in water supply, storage and conveyance facilities, as well as conservation and environmental restoration projects including the $8 billion,10-year restoration of the San Francisco Bay Delta ecosystem and the early plans to restore the Salton Sea.
Stan Speer | Chief Financial Officer
Stanley Speer is currently the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Cadiz, Inc., a clean water solutions company based in Southern California. In addition to his role at the Company, Mr. Speer is the principal of Speer and Associates, LLC, a consulting firm he founded in 2012 to provide practical operational, financial and strategic financial solutions to public and private businesses.
Previously, Mr. Speer was a Managing Director with Alvarez & Marsal (“A&M”), a global professional services firm specializing in advising and assisting boards of directors, investment groups, management groups and lenders in a wide range of turnaround, restructuring and reorganization situations.
Prior to joining A&M, Mr. Speer served as Chief Financial Officer for Cadiz from 1997 to 2003 and its subsidiary Sun World International, a fully integrated agriculture company. Earlier, Mr. Speer was a partner with Coopers & Lybrand (now PricewaterhouseCoopers), where he spent 14 years in the Los Angeles office specializing in business reorganizations.
In addition to his professional positions, from May 2018 – February 2024, Mr. Speer served on the Board of Directors of Sunworks (NASDAQ: SUNW) including as chair of the Sunworks audit committee. Mr. Speer earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Southern California.
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Cathryn Rivera | Chief Operating Officer
Cathryn Rivera is the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Cadiz, Inc., a clean water solutions company based in Southern California, appointed by the Board in September 2024. Cathryn Rivera is an expert in policy development, crisis management, stakeholder relations, and conflict resolution. She has served four governors, over 25 years, in various capacities to achieve effective governance for the leaders of California.
Previously, Ms. Rivera served as Appointments Secretary for California Governor Gavin Newsom from June 2019 – August 2024, an appointed position. In her role, Rivera acted as the leadership nexus and throughline for over 3,000 appointees responsible for governing the 5th largest economy in the world. Throughout her tenure, Ms. Rivera was also tapped by the Governor to address unforeseen challenges, often in a dynamic and highly visible environment. During the COVID pandemic, she worked to identify the optimal use of resources to meet the ever-changing needs of the state, establishing a website for Covid supplies within 72 hours, working with the private sector to increase manufacturing of protective supplies, and creating needed programs to assist essential workers and vulnerable communities. Most recently, Ms. Rivera established two new Governor’s Offices from start-up to sustainable to ensure efforts created by executive order would continue beyond the governor’s tenure.
Prior to joining the Newsom Administration, from 2002 – 2019 Ms. Rivera served as a Board Member on the Agricultural Labor Relations Board. In this role, Ms. Rivera ruled on cases appealed to the Board to provide an even playing field for the agricultural industry that contributes over $57 billion to the California economy.
Earlier in her career, Rivera served as the Chief Deputy Cabinet Secretary for California Governor Gray Davis from 1999 – 2002. In this role, she acted as a liaison to a third of state agencies, departments and boards, and was responsible for overseeing the development and implementation of administration policy and legislative initiatives.
Previously, Ms. Rivera served on the Board of Directors for Planned Parenthood Mar Monte, the largest chapter affiliate of the national organization with 35 health centers in 42 counties across California and Nevada. Ms. Rivera held board positions as Treasurer, Vice-Chair and Chair during her tenure and managed the CEO Search subcommittee.
Ms. Rivera-Hernandez received a B.S. in Business Management from Arizona State University, graduating from The Barrett Honors College, and obtained her law degree from the University of California, Berkeley where she was co-editor-in-chief of the La Raza Law Journal.
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