Governator Names Five To CalSTRS –

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed two Republicans, two Democrats and one other to the board of the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS), a pension plan with a $117 billion investment portfolio.

The fund’s board has exclusive control over the investment and administration of the retirement fund. It sets policies, makes rules and has authority over all aspects of the pension plan and its administration. In recent years it has led the fund’s efforts to scout emerging managers for its venture capital portfolio and to make investments in alternative energy.

The new directors are Democrats Mark Battey and Miguel Pulido, Republicans James Gray, Gloria Hom and Kathleen Smalley, who is not affiliated with a political party. Battey is a managing director with Miramar Capitol and the former chief deputy controller and senior policy advisor to California State Controller Steve Westley. Pulido is in his third term as mayor of the Southern California city of Santa Ana. Gray is the chairman of the Desert Community College Board of Trustees and the former chairman of Generation Trust Bank. Hom is a former economics professor who once sat on the board of Sallie Mae. Smalley is a managing director at Greenbrier Associates, a real estate financial services firm, and a lawyer who once clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.

CalSTRS’ board has 12 members. The governor appoints five of them, and the rest are elected by the system’s 735,000 members. Each appointee serves a five-year term. The board meets monthly.

CalSTRS manages a $5.2 billion private equity portfolio.