It's entirely fitting that the California Public Employees' Retirement System, which advocates openness and transparency in financial matters, should have selected as its new president Rob Feckner, who is by training and trade a glazier. Straightforward and dogged, Feckner is, more importantly, a genuinely nice guy, given to making his arguments as painstakingly and delicately as he once installed windowpanes for a California school district.

Feckner in February succeeded the fiery Sean Harrigan, a man more inclined...