.jpg)
The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) today announced the appointment of Anne Simpson as Senior Portfolio Manager for Corporate Governance.
Simpson served most recently as the Executive Director of the International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN), which represents investors responsible for $15 trillion in global assets.
“In Anne Simpson, we are getting one of the world’s most influential investor activists,” said George Diehr, Chair of the CalPERS Investment Committee. “She is widely recognized in the global corporate governance community, which knows her for her many appearances before political, policy and regulatory bodies.”
As first Executive Director of ICGN, Simpson doubled its size and stepped up its role in policy advocacy and best practice development before such forums as the International Accounting Standards Board, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the U.S. Senate Banking Committee, the United Kingdom’s Financial Services Authority and the Chinese Securities Regulatory Commission.
With CalPERS, she will oversee the Focus List program, which involves monitoring portfolio companies’ performance related to finance, corporate governance practices and CalPERS strategic issues. Simpson also will help CalPERS respond to ongoing market reform issues before U.S. policymakers and regulators.
“We are delighted to have someone of Anne’s caliber,” said Ted Eliopoulos, Interim Chief Investment Officer. “She joins us at a time of tremendous opportunity to advance the concepts of corporate governance and regulatory reform on a global scale.”
Simpson will report to Eric Baggesen, Senior Investment Officer for Global Equity, and will work with Baggesen and other team members to refine the investment structures and capital allocation process used to construct the Global Equity asset class of the CalPERS portfolio. Her start date is pending.
“I am honored to serve in the role as corporate governance officer for the institution that is at the forefront of corporate governance, especially because of the critical challenges and opportunities facing global financial markets today,” Simpson said.
A resident of London, she has authored two books on corporate governance aspects of investing. Simpson, 50, is a Senior Faculty Fellow and Lecturer in the MBA Program at the Yale School of Management on corporate governance issues. She is a graduate of Oxford University and was a Slater Fellow at Wellesley College.
CalPERS is the nation’s largest public pension fund with more than $174 billion in market assets. It provides retirement and health benefits to more than 1.6 million public employees, retirees and their families. For more information about CalPERS, visit www.calpers.ca.gov.
