By Dan McCrum in New York

Calpers and Calstrs, the two largest public sector pension funds in the US, are seeking candidates for America?s boardrooms to improve the diversity and quality of corporate directors.

The two pension plans have funded the creation of an electronic storage bank of potential applicants, called

the Diverse Director DataSource, or 3D, to widen the population of board-rooms beyond the typical ranks of corporate insiders.

The move is the flipside to efforts by California Public Employees? Retirement System and the California State Teachers? Retirement System to press for majority voting at US corporations in the cause of better shareholder

representation.

?We need to work on both the demand and the supply side in improving board quality,? said Anne Simpson, head of corporate governance for Calpers. ?The big question from companies that we have is: if you have talent, please bring it forward,? she added.

The answer the activist investors have responded with is 3D, which will be run by GovernanceMetrics International, a provider of corporate governance ratings and research. Aspiring board members can submit their resumes at http://www.gmi3D.com, and the database will then be opened to businesses and recruiters once sufficient applicants are signed up.

?Companies face global challenges and need diverse talent on their boards to ensure they have the skills and experience to succeed,? said Ira Millstein, a US corporate governance pioneer.

It follows a year of victories and setbacks for the campaigning pension funds. With the Florida retirement system, the pension funds this year pressed for majority voting at listed companies, winning a high-profile advisory vote at Apple in March, although one that the California-based technology company is yet to translate into action.

?Proxy access is a fundamental shareholder right, you should be able to push forward candidates for the board,? said Ms Simpson.

However, shareholder rights activists suffered a blow in July when a US federal appeals court threw out new rules from the Securities and Exchange Commission intended to make it easier for shareholders to eject board members at listed companies.

Judges sided with the US Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable, which had opposed ?proxy access? measures that would force companies to bear much of the cost of proposing alternative candidates in boardroom elections.

Last week, the Manhattan Institute, a pro-business think-tank, published a report on shareholder votes at Fortune 150 companies that found that between 2008 and 2011 two-thirds of share-

holder proposals came from four sources: noted activist Evelyn Davis and members of the Steiner, Chevedden and Rossi families.

Activism, and proponents of corporate social responsibility, were ?facilitating interest-group capture of corporations in an end run around the legislative process?, the paper said.

? The Financial Times Limited 2011