MONTEREY, CA – The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) Board of Administration unanimously re-elected Rob Feckner (top right photo) as Board president and George Diehr (top left photo) 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.
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.
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 (middle right photo), 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.”
Contact:
External Affairs Branch
(916) 795-3991
Robert Udall Glazier, Deputy Executive Officer
Brad Pacheco, Chief, Office of Public Affairs
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