The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) and GMI Ratings, an independent provider of global corporate governance ratings and research, are partnering to offer a new resource to help companies find diverse talent to serve as directors.
The Diverse Director DataSource (3D) is a database available at www.GMI3D.com, which includes more than 400 director candidate profiles. A further 300 are being processed and will be up soon.
Diverse Director DataSource homepage
‘We see 3D as a market solution to a supply and demand situation,’ says CalSTRS director of corporate governance Anne Sheehan, in a statement.
‘As promoters of long-term shareowner value, we’ve been demanding greater diversity on the corporate boards of our portfolio companies for quite some time.’
CalPERS and CalSTRS began work on the project more than two years ago. The new service has been developed with the help of various stakeholders including investors and companies.
Anne Simpson, CalPERS senior portfolio manager and director of global governance, expects 3D to make a great contribution to improving board effectiveness.
‘3D is an innovative resource that opens the door to finding candidates whose fresh ideas and new perspectives can help companies generate lasting, sustainable value and provide a check against the kind of ‘group think’ that played a significant role in the financial crisis,’ she says in the statement.
