R.I.P Joseph Dear, CIO of CalPERS

                                   

Joseph Dear, Chief investment officer of CalPERS (California Public Employees’ Retirement System), has a very successful tenure by raising fund’s asset value from recession level of $164.7 billion to $283.5 billion. CalPERS’ CIO, Dear was trusted by 1.7 million people of US who had invested in CalPERS to maximize their returns. The great man born in 1951, died recently on February 26, 2014, after struggling prostate cancer for so long.

Dear has his work experience trailing back to managing worker’s compensation insurance fund as a Director of Washington State Department of Labors and Industries. Before that he was appointed by Bill Clinton in 1993 as the Administrator of Occupational Safety and Health Administration OSHA till 1997. He also served as the Chief of Staff to Washington Governor Gary Locke. Prior to taking charge of CalPERS he worked as Executive Director of Washington State Investment Bond.

In 2009, Dear took the reins of CalPERS in his hand when agency was on its lowest due to recession that is $164.7 billion. Pre-recession asset value was around $260.6 billion. The drop was of 28% with in just one year. He started off with changing the investment strategy of the fund which had 2197 companies. Dear had 220 investment professionals working for him.

He tweaked with the strategy by investing in risky investments which ensures high return such as high risks hedge funds, real estate of California, junk bonds with high returns and private equities. Dear is focused on long-term results instead of short-term. CalPERS fund had recorded highest gains of 16.2% in 2013 which was highest in last ten years.

The great fund manager lost his life recently and on the day of his death his fund was worth $283.5 billion, recovered from recession drop.