Our Team

Douglas E. Speers is Chairman of the Corporation. He is the former acting Chairman and a former Director of Hydro One and also is the former Chairman and Director of Emco Corporation, a leading Canadian distributor of building materials for the residential, commercial, and industrial construction markets. Prior to his appointment as Chairman of Emco Corporation, Mr. Speers was Emco’s President and CEO from 1997-2004. Between 1971 and 1988, he held several senior positions with Imperial Oil in Canada and Exxon International in New York City. Mr Speers is a Professional Engineer-Province of Ontario and is an Emeritus Member of the Advisory Board of the Ivey Business School at Western University. He is Past Chair and Director of the Ivey Services Board and Past Chair of Ivey Business School Alumni Association. He is also Past Chair of the Executive Committee of the Canadian Industry Program for Energy Conservation (a joint Industry-Federal Government Initiative). Mr Speers holds a B.S.A. from the Ontario Agricultural College-University of Guelph, a B.A.Sc. from the University of Toronto and a M.B.A. from the Ivey Business School.

Robert Day joined Ceres in February of 2015 as Vice President of Trading and Risk Management and was promoted to interim and then full-time President & CEO in June and November of 2016, respectively. Prior to that he worked for Cargill, Inc. from 1993 – 2012 and then ED&F Man from 2012 – 2015. While at ED&F Man Mr. Day held the position of Managing Director Asia, based in Singapore and also supported the build-out of their capital markets business in North LATAM. While at Cargill Mr. Day held the positions of Commercial Director Grain & Oilseed Supply Chain, Greater China & Korea 2009 – 2012 (Shenzhen & Shanghai); Managing Director & Commercial Director, Grain & Oilseed Supply Chain Mexico 2004 – 2008 (Mexico City), Project Team Leader & Analyst, Cargill Strategy & Business Development 2000 – 2004 (Minneapolis, MN), and a variety of merchandizing and trading roles in the U.S. and Mexico from 1993 – 1999. Mr. Day has an MBA from St. Thomas University in Minneapolis and a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Minnesota.

Mr. Joel has over 30 years of experience in a range of corporate leadership roles and is currently the Principal of an Infrastructure and Supply Chain Advisory that offers a variety of services to assist clients to build, implement and optimize supply chain, logistics and transportation solutions. From 2003 to 2010, Mr. Joel was Vice President, Logistics for Canadian National Railway. In that role, he led and was accountable for a diverse group of transportation and supply chain services designed to interface with rail and deliver complete supply chain solutions. This group of businesses included warehousing, transloads, bulk commodity distribution terminals, auto handling distribution and accessorization facilities, marine terminals, ships, custom brokerage, freight forwarding and truck brokerage. Prior to joining CN, Mr. Joel held a number of Senior Management positions at Norbord Industries including strategic planning, business development, operations improvement, sales, marketing and logistics. Mr. Joel has a MBA and a HBA in Business Administration from the Richard Ivey School of Business.

Mr. Mize has 32 years of experience running commodity based trading and processing businesses. During his career, Mr. Mize has held the following corporate leadership roles: Global Chief Operating Officer of Noble Group; President of ConAgra Foods Grain Processing Group, where he managed the complete portfolio of the company’s grain processing businesses; President and Chief Executive Officer of ConAgra Malt, the world’s largest barley malt processor; and President of Cargill’s Worldwide Juice Division. Mr. Mize received a Bachelor of Arts (Business Administration and Marketing) degree from Michigan State University and attended the Advanced Executive Program at Northwestern University.

Mr. James Vanasek is a Principal at VN Capital Management, LLC. Prior to forming VN Capital, Mr. Vanasek spent the previous three and a half years working at JPMorgan Chase & Co. Initially, Mr. Vanasek provided restructuring advice during the Asian economic crisis and his work with the Indonesian car company, PT Astra International, helped JPMorgan win Finance Asia’s Restructuring Deal of the Year Award. Upon returning to New York in 1999, he focused on providing leveraged finance to U.S. and Latin American companies in JPMorgan’s Financial Sponsor Coverage and Global Syndicated Finance groups. He is a Director of American Locker Group Inc.and a member of the New York State Bar Association. Mr. Vanasek earned a B.A. degree from Yale University, a J.D. degree from Columbia Law School, and an M.B.A. degree from Columbia Business School.

David Rotenberg is a Principal at Bixby Bridge Capital, LLC (“Bixby”), a private investor and lender founded in 1992 and headquartered in Northbrook, Illinois, and certain affiliates of Bixby are investors with Ceres’s largest shareholder, VN Capital Fund C, LP. Mr. Rotenberg’s investment portfolio includes commercial real estate, operating businesses, private equity, and secured financings. He also serves as Bixby’s in-house legal counsel and is licensed to practice law in Illinois. Prior to joining Bixby in 2007, Mr. Rotenberg practiced law in Chicago. He received a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School in 2004 and graduated with honors from Vassar College in 1999.