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.
