Eric Hansen 

Chief Executive  

Eric developed the concept of Global Dairy Trade in the mid-2000s and brought together a team to design and successfully launch the platform in July 2008.  As Chief Executive, Eric continues to spearhead innovations to further develop the business and the globally traded dairy market.

Eric's extensive career spans the public and private sectors, with senior roles in central banking, government ministry of finance, economics consulting, venture capital, wholesale electricity market, and the dairy industry.  Eric’s roles had a strong focus on strategy and policy covering the gambit from corporate strategy, finance and capital structure reform, industry governance, pricing incentives and cost allocation, competition and regulatory policy, monetary policy, economic modelling and forecasting,  to Crown asset and liability management. 

Eric studied economics and mathematics at the University of Waikato, New Zealand, and holds a Ph.D. in economics from the London School of Economics & Political Science.

Contact Eric

Justin Matijasevich 

Chief Financial Officer  

Justin has come to GDT after spending over 12 years in the dairy industry in New Zealand and the Middle East, holding various senior finance roles in manufacturing, sales and corporate finance. 

Prior to that, Justin has almost 10 years experience in financial markets and investment banking across New Zealand and Europe, including working for NZX and Euronext.liffe. This included developing debt markets at the NZX and the development, enhancement and marketing of new and existing equity derivative contracts at Euronext.liffe. 

Justin holds a Bachelor of Management Studies from the University of Waikato.

Contact Justin

Yasmine Bendjafer

Chief Operating Officer

Yasmine joined GDT in 2011 and is responsible for the delivery and improvement of GDT services to customers and stakeholders across all platforms.

Having headed up the development and management of GDT’s digital products, Yasmine has excelled in leading the strategy, planning, development and implementation of all technology used within Global Dairy Trade. 

With over 15 years of experience in the international dairy industry working in North Africa, the Middle East and New Zealand, Yasmine is a valuable asset to the GDT Leadership Team. She has led the implementation of GDT’s robust and secure technology platforms, providing support to the ever-expanding bidder and seller customer base. With business operations now included as part of her portfolio, Yasmine is using her experience and knowledge of the GDT digital platforms to help deliver a more cohesive GDT experience.

Yasmine holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Business Administration, a Master of Business Administration from the University of Auckland and a Bachelor in Translation and Interpretation from the University of Algiers (Arabic/French/English). Passionate about languages, Yasmine likes to practice her Spanish and Te Reo Maori when the opportunity arises.

Contact Yasmine

Shaun McCauley

Chief Technology Officer & Managing Director GDT Europe

Shaun joined GDT in 2011 and is responsible for GDT’s overall technology vision and developing a deep pool of technology partners globally to deliver on that vision.

Shaun came to GDT after more than twenty years’ in executive and senior technology and business roles in Europe and New Zealand. With a background in large corporations such as IBM and BP and also technology start-up businesses, Shaun has masterminded the implementation of the robust secure technology platforms that support the expanding base of Sellers and Bidders on GDT.

Shaun holds a Bachelor of Science (Computer Science) from Victoria University, New Zealand and a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Warwick, United Kingdom.

Contact Shaun

Jen O'Hara

Chief Customer Officer & Head of People 

Jen joined GDT in 2015 and is responsible for all aspects of the customer experience, marketing and people strategies.

A career marketer with over 20 years of experience in both business and consumer markets, Jen has a passion for technology following senior roles in the telco IT sectors. Having led the design and global implementation of Fonterra’s distributor programme, Jen joined GDT to lead the innovation strategy, and translate customer needs into innovative new services. 

Jen holds a Bachelor of Business Studies from Massey University.

Contact Jen

Our customer-facing team

Our team are here to support customers through registration, technical and operational support of our services. Contact them at help@globaldairytrade.info