NEWS RELEASE
12 August 2002
New Ceo And New Mandates For World Gold Council
LONDON: Monday, 12 August 2002 - The Executive Committee of the World
Gold Council is pleased to announce the appointment of James E Burton
as the new Chief Executive Officer of the World Gold Council with effect
from October 1, 2002. The World Gold Council was founded in 1987 by the
world's leading gold mining companies for the purpose of stimulating the
demand for gold by consumers as well as investors.
"I am delighted that we have been able to attract someone of the
calibre of Mr Burton to run the Gold Council," said Mr Chris Thompson,
Chairman of the Executive Committee. "The World Gold Council has
always had the potential to be a major influence in gold's traditional
markets. What we need now is Mr Burton's extensive experience in the investment
arena and his demonstrated management discipline to make the Council more
effective. With the fundamentals of the gold market outlook improving
and some fresh new investment product ideas for gold in the pipeline,
the future for gold is as bright as I have seen it for some time."
Mr Burton is the former CEO of the California Public Employees Retirement
System (Calpers), which position he held from 1994 through to September
2002. Prior to working for Calpers he was Deputy State Controller for
the State of California, preceded by a series of other career steps in
the California State Government. Calpers is the leading and the largest
public pension system in the USA with $140 billion in assets and 1.2 million
participants. During Burton's era Calpers pioneered a more activist approach
to institutional investing, emphasising corporate governance issues and
insisting on management and board accountability to shareholders. Burton
designed and implemented a transformation of Calpers to an innovative,
service-oriented, value added organization widely respected in the business
community and seen as a global leader in pension investment. Calpers achieved
superior returns during his era and went from being significantly underfunded
in 1995 to comfortably overfunded post 2000.
The Executive Committee, after an extensive review by Bain & Co
of the Council's functions, has provided Mr Burton with a specific mandate
to reinvigorate the Council. The Council will focus equally on jewellery
and investment demand, as well as cutting costs on sub marginal programs.
By year's end Mr Burton will present a detailed and cost-effective overall
strategy for the promotion of gold. More details will be released in due
course.
"I am thrilled with the opportunity to help bring gold to the greater
attention of the world's markets," said Mr Burton. "I have spent
a tremendous amount of time during the past several months examining how
I can be most valuable to the investment community in this next phase
of my career. I am convinced that the Council's new focus offers me that
opportunity."
For further information, please contact:
Chris Thompson, Chairman 020 7930 5171 / 001 303 796 8683
Keith Irons, Bankside Consultants 020 7444 4155 / 07885 356 639
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