Press Release

February 19, 2009

Office of Public Affairs
(916) 795-3991
Pat Macht, Assistant Executive Officer
pressroom@calpers.ca.gov

CalPERS Board Re-Elects Rob Feckner as President, George Diehr Vice President

SACRAMENTO, CA – Members of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System’s (CalPERS) Board of Administration today unanimously re-elected Rob Feckner to a fifth term as the System’s President, and George Diehr as its Vice President for a second year.

“I feel privileged to serve as President of the CalPERS Board for another year,” said Feckner. “We face some formidable challenges in the months ahead, in our economy and in our financial markets. I want to take this opportunity to let our members and employers know that we will work hard to protect their retirement and health security, and be mindful that this is a difficult time for everyone.”

Feckner, who is a representative on the Board for school members, was first elected to the CalPERS Board in 1998. He serves as a member of the Health Benefits, and Investment Committees. He also serves as Vice Chair of the Benefits and Program Administration Committee. Feckner previously served as the Board’s Vice President and Chair of the Investment Committee.

Feckner lives and works in Napa, where he has been employed with the Napa Valley Unified School District for 32 years.

He is President of the California School Employees Association, and serves on the Association’s Board of Directors. He is also an Executive Vice President of the California Labor Federation.

President Feckner oversees the Board’s business, sets meeting schedules and agendas with input from other Board Members and executive staff, makes appointments to Board policy committees, and represents CalPERS to outside parties. 

Vice President Diehr, who represents state employees, including employees of the California State University System, was first elected to the CalPERS Board in 2002.

He is Chair of the Investment Committee and Vice Chair of the Policy Subcommittee, Health Benefits Committee and Ad Hoc Board Governance Committee.  He also serves on the Benefits and Program Administration Committee.

“I’m honored that my colleagues have selected me to serve as their Vice President for a second year and I’m looking forward to working with them, our members and employers, and all our stakeholders in the year to come,” Diehr said. “Our top priorities will be market reforms at a national level, finding creative solutions to reduce health care costs, and protecting our members’ and employers’ assets.”

Diehr is a professor of management science in the College of Business Administration at California State University (CSU) at San Marcos. He joined CSU in 1990. Previously, he was Associate Professor of Information Systems, School of Business Administration at the University of Washington.

The Vice President assumes all duties in the President’s absence, and carries out special duties assigned by the President.

CalPERS is the nation’s largest public pension fund with more than $170 billion in market assets. It provides retirement benefits to more than 1.6 million State, school and local public employees, retirees and their families, and health benefits to nearly 1.3 million members. For more on CalPERS, visit www.calpers.ca.gov.

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Dated: 02-19-2008