Jackson, J. T. Ross

James Thomas Ross Jackson is a Danish-Canadian economist, author and philanthropist born in Ottawa, Canada in 1938. In 1971, J.T. Ross Jackson co-founded SimCorp A/S: one of the world's first financial engineering companies. Later, Jackson began focusing more on international finance, consulting around the world in investment strategies for banks, insurance companies, and mutual fund providers. This led J.T. Ross Jackson to research currency trading methods and the creation of various investment strategies. In the early 1980s, J.T. Ross Jackson traveled to India and met Muktananda, a Hindu swami whose teaching led Jackson to an epiphany. "I felt a divine connection," he says. "Material things meant less after that." J.T. Ross Jackson has described his awakening in the book, Kali Yuga Odyssey: A Spiritual Journey (San Francisco, Robert D. Reed, 2000). In 1987 he integrated his spiritual insights with his business and environmental interests by forming Gaia Trust, a charitable Danish entity with the mandate to support people and projects that are moving the planet towards sustainability through grants and proactive initiatives. "As a thinker, entrepreneur, author, activist and chair of a Danish foundation that supports renewable energy and sustainable living, Ross Jackson is trying to steer humanity on a different, more nature-oriented way of life." - The Complete Engineer, The magazine of the Faculty of Engineering and applied science at Queen’s University. Winter Edition 2011