Calif. pension fund names new investment officer

The California Public Employees' Retirement System, the nation's largest public pension fund, named a new chief investment officer on Wednesday.

Joseph Dear will start in March, when he leaves his job as executive director of the Washington State Investment Board.

CalPERS provides guaranteed retirement benefits to 1.6 million state and local government employees and health benefits to about 1.3 million.

As chief investment officer, Dear will direct the $178 billion fund's investment strategy, help set its mix of assets and oversee its outside fund managers.

The fund has seen dramatic losses as the stock market has plummeted. CalPERS said in December that its portfolio had dropped 31 percent, or about $81.4 billion, since its peak in October 2007.

That could put even more pressure on government finances if state agencies and local governments are required to contribute more. CalPERS officials have warned they may have to contribute as much as an additional 4 percent starting in 2010 if the fund's investments continue to lag.

Among CalPERS' losses was a $1 billion investment in LandSource Communities Development LLC, a real estate project that includes the last major tract of undeveloped land in Los Angeles County. Falling land values forced that venture into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Dear, 57, worked in the U.S. Department of Labor during the Clinton administration and was chief of staff to former Washington Gov. Gary Locke, a Democrat.

He succeeds Anne Stausboll, who was named the pension fund's chief executive officer in December. Dear's salary is $425,000, plus incentives.

CalPERS' former chief executive, Fred Buenrostro, and former investment officer, Russell Read, left last year amid speculation they had disagreements with the pension fund's board.

Buenrostro denied that, saying he was leaving to pursue private-sector opportunities. Read said he left to invest in environmentally friendly technologies.

Earlier this week, CalPERS announced that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's former chief of staff, Patricia Clarey, was named to the CalPERS board. Clarey, senior vice president for Health Net, is the designated representative of the California State Personnel Board.

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On the Net:

http://www.calpers.ca.gov