Amy Borrus will be the next executive director of the Council of Institutional Investors, its board of directors announced Thursday.
Ms. Borrus, CII's deputy director, will succeed Ken Bertsch as executive director when he retires in August 2020. The board made the decision well in advance of Mr. Bertsch's retirement to "ensure a seamless leadership transition," it said in a news release.
"With Amy at the helm in 2020, the council is positioned to build on Ken's success in driving improved corporate governance, strong shareowner rights and vibrant, transparent and fair capital markets," said Ashbel C. "Ash" Williams Jr., CII board chairman, and executive director and chief investment officer for the Florida State Board of Administration, Tallahassee, which oversees $201.4 billion in assets, in the news release. "The board is fortunate that this succession affords us with a proven leader like Amy with deep experience at CII who knows our priority issues and is equipped to lead a diverse association."
Ms. Borrus joined CII as deputy director in 2006 and served as interim executive director from June 2015 to March 2016 — at which point Mr. Bertsch started as executive director.
Mr. Bertsch said he's glad Ms. Borrus will succeed him. "We have worked as a team, and this signals continuity as CII builds its membership, deepens and broadens its mission to serve institutional investors, and develops the excellent CII staff," he said in the news release.
Ms. Borrus, who serves on the boards of the CII Research and Education Fund and the Sinai Assisted Housing Foundation, said in the news release that under Mr. Bertsch's leadership, "CII's influence has expanded and membership has grown. I am honored to follow in his footsteps and those of previous executive directors Ann Yerger and Sarah Teslik. And I am thrilled to work with CII's terrific members, board and talented staff."
A CII spokeswoman declined to comment when asked about a timeline for filling Ms. Borrus' current position.
CII is a non-profit, non-partisan association of U.S. asset owners, primarily pension funds, state and local entities charged with investing public assets, and endowments and foundations, with combined assets of $4 trillion.
