Ross Jackson

Ross was a pioneer in introducing the more advanced uses of Information Technology to the Danish business community. He founded his own consulting firm in 1966 with an American colleague and later professor at the Danish Business School, Dr. Peter Pruzan, also an O.R. graduate from Case Western University. One of the lasting results of those early years was their decision in 1970 to found SimCorp, which is now a leading European software company listed on the Copenhagen Stock Exchange.

After consulting in a wide variety of industries, including shipping, banking, transportation, publishing, manufacturing, insurance, tobacco, pension funds, slaughterhouses, and dairies, Ross decided to specialize in the area of international finance. He subsequently worked internationally with banks, pension funds, insurance companies, mutual funds, and stockbrokers on their investment strategies. This led him to carry out research on the growing foreign exchange market in the early 1980s and led to the development of his optimal investment strategies in the currency market based on original research using a very mathematical portfolio approach.

After testing his theories successfully with actual currency trading from 1984-1986, Ross saw the tremendous earnings potential of his methods. He decided to give the rights to use them exclusively to the newly founded Gaia Trust charity in 1987 to promote a more sustainable, spiritual world. In 1988, Ross formed the first currency hedge fund, trading exclusively in interbank (non-exchange-listed) currencies. This project was very successful and provided the financial basis for Gaia Trust’s charitable activities over the next thirty years.

In later years, Ross’ early interest in the environment, spirituality and writing began to take on a more central role. He wrote a book on his spiritual awakening, worldwide travels, and personal investigations of various spiritual traditions in ‘Kali Yuga Odyssey: A Spiritual Journey. ‘ He also wrote an autobiographical account of his years in Denmark on how and why he transformed himself from a businessman on the fast track to a promoter of the ecovillage movement as a strategy of transformation of society – ‘And We ARE Doing It: Building an Ecovillage Future. ‘

Besides his role as chair of Gaia Trust, chair of Gaia Education, and member of the board of the Global Ecovillage Network for many years, he was also the major shareholder in Scandinavia’s leading organic foods wholesaler (Urtekram). Ross was a founding board member of Gaia Education, which developed a UNITAR-approved 4-week education in Ecovillage Design, now being offered at ecovillages and teaching centers in over 50 countries around the world and in an online version in three languages.

Ross has also written a “documented historical novel” about the controversial and little-known story of philosopher Sir Francis Bacon as the son of Queen Elizabeth and author of the Shakespeare works, entitled ‘Shaker of the Speare: the Francis Bacon Story. ‘ A second volume, entitled ‘The Companion to Shaker of the Speare, ‘documents the storyline with historical facts, arguments, and references.

Ross’ second-last widely praised book was ‘Occupy World Street: A Global Roadmap for Radical Economic and Political Reform.‘ The book explains in a captivating narrative style why and how we must break away from the dominant neo-liberal economic system, which is systematically destroying both the environment and local communities across the world while creating unacceptable and politically explosive inequities among world citizens. He puts forward concrete proposals for how we can establish an alternative economic system and new international institutions, putting to rest forever the claim that There Is No Alternative.

In a novel twist, Ross composed and sang an original country-style song on the same theme as the book—along with a music video on YouTube— called Occupy World Street: the song.

Ross’s latest book, the sequel to Occupy World Street, is ‘THE GOOD NEWS & THE BAD NEWS: The Economics of Collapse and The Birth of a Regenerative Society’ (2024).

Ross’s ongoing blogs on his latest book, monetary economics, his vision for a post-collapse civilization, and geopolitics are available on jtrossjackson.com.

In 2022, Ross married Heather, the British artist and photographer. They live at Duemosegaard north of Copenhagen, where they together nurture their regenerative farm as a local cultural center with debates, music, exhibitions, and a common garden project, where 20 families grow vegetables and fruit trees together.