CalPERS Requests Gateway Change Board

The nation’s largest pension fund asked computer maker Gateway Inc. to change the structure of its board of directors to make it more responsive to shareholders.

The California Public Employees’ Retirement System proposed that Gateway declassify its board, meaning that all directors would be up for election each year. Poway, Calif.-based Gateway, which opposes the change, has a classified board, which means directors serve staggered terms and only one-third of them are up for reelection in a given year.

CalPERS, which owns more than 1.1 million Gateway shares, is dissatisfied with the performance of the nation’s fourth-largest computer maker and believes the board’s current structure makes it difficult for shareholders to change board members.

Gateway shareholders can decide whether to hold a vote on the CalPERS proposal at a May 16 meeting in Sioux City, Iowa. If they agree to a vote, they would then decide whether to declassify the board at the 2003 shareholders meeting.

Gateway shares fell 23 cents to close at $6.30 on the New York Stock Exchange.