NEW YORK, May 29, 2008 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Dow Jones Indexes, a leading global index provider, today announced that Robert Podgorny, 59, most recently president of the National Conference of Public Employee Retirement Systems (NCPERS), will join as manager, fiduciary relations on June 2, 2008.
In this newly created role, Mr. Podgorny will serve as Dow Jones Indexes' ambassador to the pension fund community. He will educate plan sponsors on the importance of effective benchmark adoption and illustrate the advantages of and encourage use of the Dow Jones Wilshire indexes.
"Bob's impressive background in the public sector, as well as his leadership of NCPERS, will be valuable to helping Dow Jones Indexes provide the most timely and useful information for its clients. His insight into this important market segment will help illustrate the significance of benchmark adoption for plan sponsors and trustees," said Michael A. Petronella, president, Dow Jones Indexes.
Mr. Podgorny has an extensive background in public service and pensions. Prior to his post at NCPERS, he was first vice president of Chicago's Fraternal Order of Police Lodge # 7, having served on the board for 21 years. He currently serves as a trustee and also has chaired numerous committees. Mr. Podgorny served as a Chicago police officer for more than 33 years. There, he was instrumental in obtaining collective bargaining rights for the Chicago Police Department. In addition to his collective bargaining expertise, Mr. Podgorny dealt with all medical and health-related issues and disabilities of Chicago police officers.
He was a member of the NCPERS Credentials, Elections, and Program Committee as well as NCPERS Task Force on Health Care Benefits, and served as an NCPERS representative to the Public Pension Coordination Council.
Mr. Podgorny currently serves as director of the Retired Chicago Police Association (RCPA). He also is a board member of the Illinois Public Pension Fund Association (IPPFA).
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About Dow Jones Indexes
A full-service index provider, Dow Jones Indexes develops, maintains and licenses indexes for use as benchmarks and as the basis of investment products. Best known for the Dow Jones Industrial Average, Dow Jones Indexes also is co-owner of the Dow Jones STOXX indexes, the world's leading pan-European indexes, and together with Wilshire Associates, provides the Dow Jones Wilshire Global Index family, which is anchored by the Dow Jones Wilshire 5000 and covers more than 12,000 securities in 59 markets. Beyond equity indexes, Dow Jones Indexes maintains a number of alternative indexes, including measures of the hedge fund and commodity markets. Dow Jones indexes are maintained according to clear, unbiased and systematic methodologies that are fully integrated within index families. www.djindexes.com
Dow Jones & Company (www.dowjones.com) is a News Corporation company (NYSE:NWS) (NYSE:NWS.A) (ASX:NWS) (ASX:NWSLV) (www.newscorp.com). Dow Jones is a leading provider of global business news and information services. Its Consumer Media Group publishes The Wall Street Journal, Barron's, MarketWatch and the Far Eastern Economic Review. Its Enterprise Media Group includes Dow Jones Newswires, Dow Jones Factiva, Dow Jones Client Solutions, Dow Jones Indexes and Dow Jones Financial Information Services. Its Local Media Group operates community-based information franchises. Dow Jones owns 50% of SmartMoney and 33% of STOXX Ltd. and provides news content to radio stations in the U.S.
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