When the Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado holds its monthly board meetings, there are invariably three executives named Kim in attendance. And at times there have been four.
"We think it's funny and joke about it, but it isn't as confusing as it sounds," said Kim Roberts Mosko, director of real estate at the $25 billion fund in Denver. Ms. Mosko is the only female Kim in the group, which helps keep identities straight. The other Kims connected with the system are George Kim Johnson, general counsel, who goes by his middle name; Kim Natale, vice chairman of the board; and Kim Redding, principal at the RREEF Funds, San Francisco, which runs a $270 real estate investment trust portfolio for the system.
Mr. Redding notes his daughter also is named Kim, but she is only 10 and doesn't attend the meetings, so it's a non-issue. He doesn't go to many of the board meetings, either. And when he meets with Ms. Mosko and her staff, it's obvious which Kim is which.
"There have been some occasional mixups at the board meetings between Kim Mosko and me," admits Kim Johnson. "At times, a trustee will say, 'Let's hear from Kim on this' and we both start talking.
"On the other hand, if someone says, 'We'll let Kim do it,' one of us might get out of doing something, because we assumed the other Kim was supposed to do it," he quipped.
While the Kims could have assigned themselves numbers and been known as Kims 1, 2, 3 and 4, it hasn't been necessary. The trustees have learned to address the Kims by their last names, which is working out well, according to Mr. Johnson.
Some of the mail still goes awry, often addressed to a Ms. Kim Johnson or Ms. Kim Natale. But internally, most of the staff knows exactly who's who.
