News
20/08/2008
Dr William Crist to chair Governance for Owners
Dr William (Bill) Crist, former president of the board of CalPERS, has been appointed to the board of Governance for Owners Group LLP (GO) and will take over as Chairman in October. Robert Monks, who has chaired GO since its inception in 2005, will step down from the board, remain a partner and be closely involved as a senior advisor.
Dr Crist is an Emeritus Professor of Economics at California State University, Stanislaus, where he served as Professor of Economics from 1969 through to his retirement in January, 2003. Bill was an elected member of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) Board of Administration from 1987 to 2003. He served as President of CalPERS and Chairman of the Board from 1992 until his retirement from the Board in January, 2003. He served on every standing committee of the CalPERS Board during his tenure. CalPERS is the largest public pension fund in the United States with more than 1.5 million members and more than $230 billion in assets.
Through both his academic work and his role at CalPERS, Bill established a reputation as a protagonist for good governance and clear accountability. He served on boards, committees and task forces of a number of governance related organisations including, in the US, the Council of Institutional Investors, the California State University Institute for the Study of Pension Systems, and internationally, the OECD-World Bank Private Sector Advisory Group and the Pacific Pension Institute. He was a founding member, and a governor of the International Corporate Governance Network and, in 2003 received its Award for Excellence in Corporate Governance.
Peter Butler, CEO, said: “Bob has been our mentor and wise counsel for over a decade now. We are immensely grateful for his guidance and overall contribution to the development of our approach to shareholder engagement investing. Bill has been involved with GO as a partner since its inception. We are delighted that he will increase his involvement and lead GO to the next stage in its development.”
ENDS
For further information contact:
Michelle Edkins, GO, + 44 (0)20 7614 4750
Gay Collins/Andre Flemmings, Penrose, + 44 (0)20 7786 4882/4811
Notes to Editors:
Governance for Owners (GO) is an independent partnership between major financial institutions, shareowners and executives dedicated to adding long-term value for clients by exercising owners’ rights. There are two main product offerings. The GO European Focus Fund, which invests in European public companies where value can be added through making use of ownership rights. The GO Stewardship Services offers intelligent voting and engagement on quoted companies in Europe, the US, Japan, and South East Asia.
Dr. William Crist biography: Dr. William Crist (Bill) is an Emeritus Professor of Economics at California State University, Stanislaus, USA, where he served as Professor of Economics from 1969 through his retirement in January, 2003. He was Chair of the university's Department of Economics from 1986 to 1990. He also served the CSU as the University’s Corporate and Foreign Education Liaison from 2000 to 2003. He has been Executive Vice President of Governance for Owners USA, Inc. since its inception. He holds a Master’s Degree in Economics and Business and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Nebraska.
During his early academic career Dr. Crist was the founding President of the California Faculty Association, which is the exclusive collective bargaining representative of more that 30,000 university faculty members in California. He served as President and Chairman of the CFA Board from 1976 to 1985.
Dr. Crist was an elected member of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) Board of Administration from 1987 to 2003. He served as President of CalPERS and Chairman of the Board from 1992 until his retirement from the Board in January, 2003. He served on every standing committee of the CalPERS Board during his tenure. CalPERS is the largest public pension fund in the United States with more than 1.5 million members and more than $230 billion in assets.
Bill has served as Co-Chair of the U.S. Council of Institutional Investors, and as a member of the Council's Executive Committee. He was a founding member of the International Corporate Governance Network and served as a member of the ICGN Board of Governors. He earned international acclaim by receiving the 2003 Award for Excellence in Corporate Governance from the International Corporate Governance Network for his work in promoting good corporate governance world wide. He presently is Chair of the ICGN Nominating Committee.
Bill was a member of the Board of Directors of the Pacific Pension Institute from 1997 to 2004 and served as Chairman from 1998 to 2003. He currently is on the PPI Advisory Board and on the Board of directors of the National Coalition on Health Care. He serves on a number of other advisory boards in both the public and the private sector, and on corporate boards. He has written numerous articles on pension fund investing, retirement system administration, corporate governance and public sector collective bargaining.