Cadiz Inc. Announces Nomination of Two New Independent Directors

LOS ANGELES, April 04, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cadiz Inc. CDZI (the "Company") announced today that its Board of Directors has nominated two prominent Californians, Maria Echaveste and Carolyn Webb de Macías, to stand for election as directors at its upcoming 2019 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. The Annual Meeting will be held this summer and the Company expects to distribute its meeting materials, including the Proxy Statement and ballot, next month.

"I am extremely pleased that our Board has nominated Maria and Carolyn to join the Company's Board of Directors. Both women have enjoyed exceptional professional careers and have invaluable experience in solving transcendent public policy issues.  Their backgrounds and qualifications make them the perfect candidates to help guide the Company in its efforts to provide clean, reliable and affordable water to Californians," said Scott Slater, Cadiz CEO.

"These nominations reflect the Company's commitment to build a Board that is personally connected to the unique Californian struggle to develop solutions to the systemic water supply shortages that have ravaged the State for over a decade," said Winston Hickox, Chair of the Board's Nominating Committee.  "Maria and Carolyn bring both historical experience and principled passionate advocacy for the people and businesses the Company aims to benefit with its projects.  We couldn't be prouder they have chosen to join us on this journey."

Maria Echaveste is a scholar with a distinguished career working as a community leader, public policy advisor, lecturer, senior White House official, and attorney.  She is presently President and CEO of the Opportunity Institute, a non-profit working to increase economic and social mobility focused on equity for the most vulnerable communities.  Echaveste has been affiliated with UC Berkeley in various capacities since 2004 including: lecturing at the School of Law and in the undergraduate division on immigration and education; serving as program and policy director of the Law School's Chief Justice Earl Warren Institute on Law and Social Policy from 2006 -2012; serving as a Senior Fellow at UC Berkeley's Center for Latin American Studies since 2008; and as a Visiting Scholar with the Berkeley Food Institute from 2015-2016.  Previously, from 1998 to 2001 Echaveste served as Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff for President Bill Clinton focused on issues relating to immigration, civil rights, education, finance, Mexico and Latin America.  From 1993 to 1997 she served as Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division at the US Department of Labor. In 2009, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appointed Echaveste as a special representative to Bolivia.  From 2015-2017, Echaveste served as vice-chair of the California International Trade and Investment Advisory Committee, an appointment by Governor Brown. Echaveste presently serves on the board of directors of the Level Playing Field Institute, Mi Familia Vota and UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals. 

Carolyn Webb de Macías is a community leader with an extensive career in public policy and higher education. Ms. Webb de Macías currently serves as Board Chair for the Los Angeles Partnership, a non-profit organization that manages 17 public schools through an MOU with the Los Angeles Unified School District, and as Member of the Board of the Community Coalition of South Los Angeles, a community education and advocacy organization. Previously Webb de Macías served in the office of Elementary and Secondary Education in the US Department of Education as an appointee of President Barack Obama from 2010-2012. From 1997 – 2008, Webb de Macías served in various roles at the University of Southern California including adjunct faculty member in the USC Rossier School of Education, associate provost from 1997-2002 and vice president for external relations from 2002 - 2008. From 1991-1997 Webb de Macías served as chief of staff for Los Angeles City Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas. Webb de Macías' strong record of community service includes roles as founding member of the Board for the Alliance for Regional Collaboration to Heighten Educational Success (ARCHES), member of the Boards of the Los Angeles African American Women's Public Policy Institute and the International Black Women's Public Policy Institute, member of the Central City Association Executive Committee, and founding president of the Education Consortium of Central Los Angeles. Webb de Macías has been honored for her work as a founding member of Young Black Scholars of Los Angeles and named a Black Woman of Achievement by the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund.

About Cadiz Inc.

Founded in 1983, Cadiz Inc. CDZI is a publicly-held renewable resources company that owns 70 square miles of property with significant water resources in Southern California. The Company maintains an organic agricultural development in the Cadiz Valley of eastern San Bernardino County, California and is partnering with public water agencies to implement the Cadiz Water Project, which over two phases will create a new water supply for approximately 400,000 people and make available up to 1 million acre-feet of new groundwater storage capacity for the region.  Cadiz abides by a wide-ranging Green Compact focused on environmental conservation and sustainable practices to manage its land, water and agricultural resources. For more information, please visit  www.cadizinc.com

Contact:

Courtney Degener
Cadiz Inc.
213-271-1600
cdegener@cadizinc.com

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENT: This release contains forward-looking statements that are subject to significant risks and uncertainties, including statements related to the future operating and financial performance of the Company and the financing activities of 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 the Company's ability to maximize value for Cadiz land and water resources, the Company's ability to obtain new financing as needed, the receipt of additional permits for the water project and other factors and considerations detailed in the Company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings.