WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The California State Teachers’ Retirement System withdrew all eight of its board diversity shareholder proposals filed during the 2011 proxy season after successfully engaging companies to consider diversity in director searches.
In recent years, the issues of board of director leadership and oversight roles have taken on increased significance to long-term investors, such as CalSTRS. Today’s economic challenges highlight the importance that board diversity plays in enhancing value and providing companies with a full range of fresh talent and experience.
“We’ve advanced the ball in the name of board diversity and are committed in our conviction that corporate boards and their nominating committees consider diversity in the larger context of improving shareholder value,” said CalSTRS Director of Corporate Governance Anne Sheehan. “One lesson from the financial crisis was the role corporate board group-think played in fostering management short-term priorities that proved detrimental to sustainable value creation. We think improved board diversity will address that problem.”
To assist boards in the enhancement of diversity on corporate boards and of shareholder value, CalSTRS and CalPERS launched the Diverse Director DataSource, known as “3D,” by announcing the selection of corporate governance vendor Governance Metrics International to develop and operate the DataSource. 3D is expected to go live later in July and begin accepting nominations from board candidates. The database will offer shareholders, companies and other organizations a valuable resource for identifying candidates.
The California State Teachers’ Retirement System, with a portfolio valued at $154.6 billion, is the largest teacher pension fund in the United States. CalSTRS administers a hybrid retirement system, consisting of a traditional defined benefit, cash balance and defined contribution plans, as well as disability and survivor benefits. CalSTRS serves California's 852,000 public school educators and their families from the state’s 1,600 school districts, county offices of education and community college districts.