CalSTRS to Facebook: your board needs women

The California State Teachers' Retirement System (CalSTRS), the second-largest pension fund in the U.S., sent a letter to Facebook yesterday complaining that the social networking giant doesn't have any women on its board of directors. The organization, which holds Facebook stakes through its private equity investments and expects to be a common stock holder when Menlo Park goes public later this year, also criticized Facebook for having a small board, which currently has seven members.

"We are disappointed that the Facebook board will not have any women members," CalSTRS corporate governance director Anne Sheehan wrote to Facebook, according to Reuters, which obtained a copy of the letter. "We believe that investors and the company would benefit from a larger, more diverse board."

CalSTRS provides retirement, disability, and survivor benefits for California's prekindergarten through community college educators and their families. Although the organization has held Facebook stock for a while, it is probably complaining to Facebook now because the social networking giant just filed for an initial public offering (IPO) last week.

Facebook's board of directors currently includes former White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, venture capitalist Marc Andreessen of Andreessen Horowitz, Jim Breyer of Accel Partners, The Washington Post Company chairman and CEO Donald E. Graham, Peter Thiel of Clarium Capital and Founders Fund, as well as Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg (the board's chairman).

I have contacted Facebook in regards to the complaint and will update you if I hear back.

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