Skip to content Skip to navigation

Director Pool of Talent

For information on the Diverse Director Database (3D) or to submit a director nominee please e-mail DiverseDirectorDatabase@calpers.ca.gov.

CalPERS advocates diversity across the enterprise. "We believe we can gain a competitive advantage by drawing on the market's broadest investment talent, the widest experiences, and the most varied perspectives," stated Anne Stausboll, Chief Executive Officer. Several initiatives over the past few years exemplify CalPERS leadership in promoting diversity:

The Board must establish and disclose the mix of director attributes, experiences, diverse perspectives and skill sets that are the most appropriate for the company. Core attributes of directors that make up a board should address accounting or finance, international markets, business or management experience, industry knowledge, customer-base experience or perspective, crisis response, leadership and strategic planning as well as address historically under-represented groups on the board, including women and minorities.

CalPERS supports the proposed amendments to expand the disclosure requirements regarding the qualifications of directors and nominees. Specifically, we agree that this should include past directorships held by directors and disclosure of relevant legal proceedings for the stipulated periods of time. It will be especially valuable for investors to be provided annually with information regarding experience, qualifications, attributes or skills that qualify that person to serve or continue to serve as a director of the company. We would not confine this disclosure to corporate directorships, but would expand to include other relevant professional affiliations, which may be relevant to assessing both independence and competence.

These proposals will help investors form a view in individual cases in relations to the board's overall composition. Hence it is valuable if a company puts forward their case to support why a nominee is qualified to serve on the company's board and how their skill-sets, experience and background complement the team and thereby contribute to the board's effectiveness.

In addition, CalPERS supports the required disclosure of the additional factors that a nominating committee should consider in recruitment, such as diversity.

CalPERS Global Principles of Accountable Corporate Governance argue that the core attributes of the board should include a range of skills and experience which will provide a diverse and dynamic team to oversee the company's strategy, risk mitigation and management performance. The Principles comment that these attributes will include the usual areas of expertise such as finance, management experience and strategic planning, but that boards will also benefit from input from a diverse team which can challenge the "group think" which undermines the ability to challenge and innovate. For that reason we consider it important that nominating committees recruit from the broadest pool of talent.

Currently, CalPERS is in partnership with CalSTRS with the goal to develop a diverse pool of talent for shareowner to nominate to Boards. CalPERS believes proxy access is a fundamental shareowner right that allows significant investors reasonable access to place nominees on corporate proxy ballots with all nominees being subsequently subject to a vote of the majority of shareowners. CalPERS and CalSTRS have hosted workshops with participants ranging from shareowners, diversity groups, companies, experts and practitioners to collectively construct a process to meet this goal.

April 11, 2010
Council of Institutional Investors (CII) Meeting

First Meeting of the Advisory Committee: Building a Shareowner Aligned Diverse Director Pool (PDF, 438 KB)

November 18, 2009
International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN) Meeting

The Role of Shareowners in Board Nominations (PDF, 239 KB)

September 2009 Workshop

Workshop Presentation (PDF, 2 MB)
Controller John Chiang's Opening Remarks
Diversity Agenda (PDF, 21 KB)
Diversity Participants (PDF, 24 KB)
Diversity Resources (PDF, 15 KB)