Administration May 25, 2007

CalPERS to Withhold Director Votes on Backdating Concerns

May 25, 2007 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) is opposing the re-election of four more directors to the boards of companies named in the backdating of employee stock options.

Reported by

Nevin E. Adams

The directors headed compensation committees during periods when options were backdated, according to a CalPERS press release. They are:

Denis O’Leary of McAfee, which is based in Santa Clara, California; (see Former McAfee Lawyer Charged in Options Backdating Scheme )
Michael Kaufman of Monster Worldwide, New York City; (see Monster Exec Pleads Guilty to Backdating Charges ) and
Darwin Deason and Joseph O’Neill of Affiliated Computer Services, Dallas, Texas (see ACS Execs Latest to Resign After Stock Options Probe ).

“We believe executive compensation committee leaders have the highest level of responsibility to ensure that compensation policies are above board,” said Russell Read, CalPERS Chief Investment Officer. “Our action also sends a message that shareowners are dissatisfied with this kind of performance.”

The CalPERS Board adopted a program in December 2006 to withhold votes from former chairs of compensation committees where the chief executive officer departed under a scandal of option backdating (see .

Under the program, CalPERS announced its opposition in April to the re-election of Ray Irani, who received a 19% withhold vote to the board of KB Home (see KB Home Taps Independent Chairman in Post-Options Scandal Era ).

CalPERS is the nation’s largest public pension fund with assets totaling more than $245 billion.