Press Release

August 5, 2011

External Affairs Branch
(916) 795-3991
Robert Udall Glazier, Deputy Executive Officer
Brad Pacheco, Chief, Office of Public Affairs
Contact: Edward Fong, Information Officer
pressroom@calpers.ca.gov

Michael Bilbrey Apparent Winner of Special CalPERS Board Runoff Election

SACRAMENTO, CA – Michael Bilbrey is the apparent winner of a special runoff election to fill a vacancy on the 13-member California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) Board of Administration.

According to the unofficial vote count, Bilbrey received 117,034 votes while Richard Ross received 78,718 votes. The result is not official until certified by the California Secretary of State's Office.

Bilbrey and Ross were among a field of eight candidates vying for a Member-At-Large board seat following the resignation of Kurato Shimada last August. A runoff election was held after no candidate received the majority of votes in the first round of the election that took place earlier this spring. State law requires the winning candidate to receive a majority of the votes cast. All CalPERS members who were employed or retired on June 1, 2011, were eligible to vote in the runoff election. Bilbrey will serve out the remainder of the term vacated by Shimada, which ends on January 15, 2014.

Under California law, the CalPERS Board has exclusive authority to administer the CalPERS pension fund. Six of the 13 members are elected by various segments of the CalPERS membership. Two members are appointed by the Governor while one member is jointly appointed by the Assembly Speaker and State Senate Rules Committee. There are four ex officio members: the State Controller, State Treasurer, Director of the Department of Personnel Administration, and a designee of the State Personnel Board.

CalPERS, with more than $233 billion in assets, is the largest public pension fund in the U.S. The retirement system administers pension benefits for more than 1.6 million active and retired California state, public school, and local public agency employees and their families, and health benefits for more than 1.3 million members, on behalf of more than 3,000 California public employers. The average CalPERS pension is $2,220 per month. More information is available at www.calpers.ca.gov.

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Dated: 08-05-2011