William Crist to become chairman of Governance for Owners

Crist will take over the chairmanship of the partnership from Robert Monks, who has chaired GO since its inception in 2005.

Crist was an elected member of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System board of administration from 1987 to 2003 – and served as president of CalPERS and chairman of the board from 1992 until his retirement in January, 2003.

He was a professor of economics at California State University from 1969 through to his retirement.

GO chief executive Peter Butler said: "Bob has been our mentor and wise counsel for over a decade now.

"We are immensely grateful for his guidance and overall contribution to the development of our approach to shareholder engagement investing. Bill has been involved with GO as a partner since its inception. We are delighted that he will increase his involvement and lead GO to the next stage in its development."

Governance for Owners is a partnership between financial institutions, shareowners and executives which aims to add long-term value for clients by exercising owners’ rights.

It has two main product offerings – the GO European Focus Fund, which invests in European public companies, and GO Stewardship Services, which offers voting and engagement on quoted companies in Europe, the US, Japan, and South East Asia.