The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) Board of Administration today unanimously re-elected Rob Feckner as Board president and George Diehr as vice president for 2012 during the Pension Fund’s annual winter offsite Board meeting. Terms for the president and vice president are one calendar year. Feckner is serving his eighth term as president and Diehr is serving his fifth term as vice president.
CalPERS also announced that its investment portfolio earned a small, but positive 1.1 percent return for the 12-month period ended December 31, 2011.
Feckner is elected to the CalPERS Board by the Pension Fund’s school members. He was first elected in 1998. In addition to being Board president, Feckner chairs the Board’s Governance committee, is vice chair of the Benefits and Program Administration committee, and is a member of the Investment, Health Benefits, and Ad Hoc Risk Management committees.
Feckner has worked for the Napa Valley Unified School District for the past 35 years. He is also the past president of the California School Employees Association and is currently executive vice president of the California Labor Federation.
The Board president oversees the Board’s business, sets meeting schedules and agendas with input from other Board Members and Executive Staff, makes appointments to board policy committees and represents CalPERS to outside parties.
“I want to thank my fellow Board Members for their support and trust in me to lead this organization,” said Feckner. “We have made great strides in the last year to strengthen our transparency, accountability and ethics that will enhance our ability to provide the retirement and health security that public employees deserve.”
Diehr, who is elected by State employees, including employees of the California State University system, was first elected to the CalPERS Board in 2002. In addition to serving as vice president, he chairs the Investment and the Benefits and Program Administration Committees, and is vice chair of the Board’s Governance committee. He is a member of the Health Benefits, Performance and Compensation and Risk Management committees, along with the Investment Policy Subcommittee. Diehr also chairs the board of the National Coalition on Health Care.
“I look forward to working with my fellow Board Members, CalPERS staff, and our constituents to make sure that we continue to offer well-managed, cost-effective benefit programs for the hard-working public employees of California,” said Diehr.
Since 1990, Dr. Diehr has been on the faculty of the College of Business Administration at California State University, San Marcos. In addition to teaching, he has held several administrative positions including interim dean and chair of the university’s Academic Senate. He is also active in the faculty union, the California Faculty Association.
According to CalPERS investment staff, due to the high volatility of global equity markets in 2011 (caused in large part by the ongoing Euro debt crisis and the slowing of global economic growth) the Fund experienced a 7.9 percent loss in its public equity asset classes. CalPERS U.S. equity portfolio lost .03 percent, while its international equity assets declined 13.9 percent.
All other CalPERS asset classes had positive returns. CalPERS private equity and fixed income investments both earned a 12.4 percent return. Real estate investments returned nearly 10 percent, while inflation linked assets earned 8.4 percent.
CalPERS 1.1 percent return beat the Pension Fund’s policy benchmark – the return expected from CalPERS asset allocation mix – by 0.2 percent.
“We’ve been saying for a long time that we’re facing a challenging investing environment,” said Joseph Dear, CalPERS Chief Investment Officer. “The shock waves of the last year in particular created a crisis of confidence that’s still impacting all investors. At the same time, the volatility can provide us with real opportunities, and we have the size and liquidity to take advantage of those opportunities. I am confident that we have the right strategy in place to achieve our investment goals over the long term.”
CalPERS is the nation’s largest public pension fund with approximately $229 billion in assets, providing retirement benefits to more than 1.6 million State, public school, and local public agency employees, retirees, and their families, and health benefits to more than 1.3 million members. The average CalPERS pension is $2,220 per month. For more information about CalPERS, visit www.calpers.ca.gov.
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Robert Udall Glazier, Deputy Executive Officer, Brad Pacheco, Chief, Office Of Public Affairs - CalPERS Board Re-Elects Rob Feckner President - George Diehr Vice President, Pension Fund Earns 1.1 Percent Return For 2011 Calendar Year
Date 23/01/2012