Joseph A. Dear, chief investment officer of CalPERS, was re-elected chair of the Council of Institutional Investors, according to results provided by CII Tuesday.
Mr. Dear was opposed by Gregory W. Smith, chief operating officer and general counsel of the the $39.7 billion Colorado Public Employees Retirement Association, Denver.
Only the 65 CII public pension plan members were eligible to vote in the polling that closed Monday, said Amy Borrus, CII deputy director. Under CII bylaws, the chair has to be from a public fund.
Mr. Dear was on vacation and unavailable for comment, said Clark McKinley, spokesman for the $230.1 billion California Public Employees’ Retirement System, Sacramento. Mr. Dear has been a CII director since 2008 and chair since later that year, Ms. Borrus said. Under CII bylaws, directors can serve on the board only five consecutive years, Ms. Borrus said.
Mr. Smith will remain a director of the 15-member CII board. He couldn’t be reached for comment.
Both Messrs. Dear and Smith wanted to be chair when public fund members put together their slate of directors earlier in the year, triggering the election, Ms. Borrus said.
CII officials had no comment on the election results, said Ms. Borrus. The CII doesn’t release the vote tally, she added.
