CalPERS' Dear to head SEC advisory board

Joe Dear, the chief investment officer of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), the US’ largest public pension fund, was on Tuesday elected as the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Investor Advisory Committee.

The committee was established as a requirement of the Dodd-Frank Act in 2010 to provide investor perspectives on regulatory priorities, fee structures, disclosure policies and other topics important to investors. 

The appointment was made by SEC chair Mary Schapiro in April with CalPERS and 21 others, representing more than $1.6 trillion in assets, aiming to encourage a proactive investor protection agenda. Also on the committee is California State Teachers’ Retirement System’s director of corporate governance, Anne Sheehan.

The committee will voice financial and regulatory investor concerns to ensure that the lessons learned from the recent financial crisis are not forgotten, Dear explained in a statement.

Dear, who joined CalPERS in 2009 from Washington State Investment Board, is responsible for overseeing all asset classes in which the pension fund invests. His duties include tactical asset allocation, risk management and new investment programmes as well as other back office operations.

Currently CalPERS has approximately $226 billion in assets and provides retirement benefits to more than 1.6 million state employees.