Executive Chair, Susan
Kennedy, to Step into Full-time Role as CEO, Water-law
Expert Scott Slater to continue Serving as Senior Advisor, and the
Company to Create Two New Executive Positions as Project
Development Ramps Up
LOS
ANGELES, Dec. 7, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Cadiz,
Inc. (NASDAQ: CDZI/CDZIP, the "Company") is pleased to announce
today that Susan Kennedy, Executive
Chair of the Board of Directors, will step into a full-time role as
the Company's Chief Executive Officer ("CEO") beginning
January 1, 2024. Scott Slater, who has served as President and
CEO of Cadiz since 2011, plans to continue to serve as a senior
advisor to the Company. The Company also plans to create two new
executive positions in 2024, one focused on development and
operation of the Cadiz Water Supply and Storage Project and one
focused on scaling the Company's wholly owned water filtration
business, ATEC Water Systems, LLC.
"Cadiz is at a critical inflection point," Kennedy said. "It's
time to scale up our development and operational capabilities.
These next two years will be about building out our water
infrastructure assets, scaling deployment of our water filtration
technology and exploring new commercial opportunities such as
hydrogen."
"We're in a strong position," Scott
Slater said. "I'm proud of the milestones we've reached and
looking forward to helping the company jump to the next level of
development. I am particularly proud of what we've accomplished
with the acquisition of pipeline and technology assets and am
looking forward to seeing those assets monetized and scaled."
"Scott and Susan have done a remarkable job setting the company
up for this moment," Winston Hickox,
Cadiz' lead independent director said. "Between Scott Slater's water law and industry expertise
and Susan Kennedy's operational and
political capabilities, the company is positioned to scale at a
time when access to clean, reliable water around the world is
becoming more challenging due to the impacts of climate
change."
Scott Slater is a legendary water
rights attorney with unmatched depth in some of the most complex
and historic water transactions in United
States' history. Slater was appointed President of Cadiz in
2011 and named CEO in 2013 while also maintaining his shareholder
position at Brownstein, Hyatt, Farber, Schreck, ranked as one of
the best law firms in the U.S. on Water Law and Land Use. The Board
thanks Scott for leading the design and approval of the largest
fully integrated groundwater conservation and storage project in
California, and successfully
defending the permits through a decade of litigation, appeals and
regulatory challenges. Slater innovatively led the company's
acquisition of pipeline assets from El Paso Natural Gas in 2020,
setting the Company up to be first in the world to convert fossil
fuel pipelines to transport water. In 2022, Slater led Cadiz'
acquisition of ATEC Water Systems, a water filtration company with
market-leading filtration technology able to address the rapidly
increasing threat of groundwater contamination from iron and
manganese, arsenic, nitrates, Chromium-6 and other chemicals.
Kennedy, who has served as Cadiz's Executive Chair since 2021,
will take over as full time CEO in January
2024. Slater plans to continue supporting Cadiz in 2024 in a
consulting capacity, focused on completing numerous transactions
related to the water supply and storage project, ATEC Systems,
green hydrogen development and other commercial opportunities.
Since Cadiz acquired the ATEC business in Q4 2022, ATEC has
secured contracts and begun production on projects expected to
generate significant revenues for the company in FY 2024. ATEC
revenues are expected to exceed $12
million in FY 2024 with projected segment positive operating
income of approximately $3 - 4
million during FY 2024.
"Cadiz will be operating on all cylinders in 2024,"
Kennedy said.
About Cadiz, Inc.
Founded in 1983, Cadiz, Inc.
(NASDAQ: CDZI) is a California
water solutions company dedicated to providing access to clean,
reliable and affordable water for people through a unique
combination of water supply, storage, pipeline and treatment
solutions. With 45,000 acres of land in California, 2.5 million acre-feet of water
supply, 220 miles of pipeline assets and the most cost-effective
water treatment filtration technology in the industry, Cadiz offers
a full suite of solutions to address the impacts of climate change
on clean water access.
For more information, please visit www.cadizinc.com.
FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS: This release contains
forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These
forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to,
statements regarding the expected changes in and additions to the
management team of Cadiz, Inc. (the "Company"), the Company's
ability to complete transactions related to the water supply
and storage project, and the future revenue and
operating performance of the ATEC water treatment operating segment
of the Company that are subject to significant business, economic
and competitive risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond
the control of ATEC and the Company. Although the Company
believes that the expectations reflected in our forward-looking
statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such
expectations will prove to be correct. Factors that could
cause actual results or events to differ materially from those
reflected in the Company's forward-looking statements include our
ability to reach agreement with our existing CEO and Executive
Chair on the terms of future service, our ability to attract and
retain talent to expand our management team, our expected growth
opportunities may take longer to realize than expected, we may
experience delays in the supply chain for materials, or other
factors detailed in the Company's Securities and Exchange
Commission filings. We undertake no obligation to publicly update
any forward-looking statement, whether written or oral, that may be
made from time to time, whether as a result of new information,
future developments or otherwise.
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SOURCE Cadiz, Inc.