NEW YORK, NY – Out Leadership is proud to announce that the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), the largest public pension fund in the United States, has joined our premier global platform to drive LGBTQ+ equality.
By joining Out Leadership, CalPERS reasserts its longstanding commitment to creating value, promoting equity, and improving financial performance on behalf of 2 million public employees and their families in the state of California.
“For years, CalPERS has used its influence as an institutional investor to engage companies in which we invest in on the importance of diversity and inclusion to shareowner value,” said Marlene Timberlake D’Adamo, Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) Officer of CalPERS. “We’re excited to leverage Out Leadership’s research, talent development programs, and advocacy to continue delivering strong and equitable returns to our members.”
In 2007, the pension fund created a dedicated program to promote diversity efforts in its workforce and with external stakeholders.
CalPERS later developed a set of beliefs to guide the management of its $450 billion investment portfolio that established human capital practices, including diversity, as critical to long-term value creation.
In 2016, as part of Out Leadership’s OutQUORUM initiative to advance LGBTQ+ inclusion on corporate boards, CalPERS became one of the first pension funds to update their governance principles to include LGBTQ+ in their definition of diversity.
The pension fund most recently refined its practices with the creation of a DEI Framework that outlines bold initiatives around culture, talent management, health care equity, supplier diversity and in its investment portfolio.
“Out Leadership has always operated on the premise that embedding LGBTQ+ equality into business practices isn’t just the right thing to do– it’s a business imperative,” said Todd Sears, Founder & CEO of Out Leadership. “We’re excited to help CalPERS change the structures of business to create more inclusive companies that realize better outcomes for the bottom line.”
As investors navigate increasingly complex financial markets, the diverse perspectives and insights provided by leaders of different backgrounds become ever more necessary for businesses to mitigate risk and realize the largest possible returns. As the first pension fund to become an Out Leadership member, CalPERS continues its material investment in LGBTQ+ equality.