Labor leader Sean Harrigan defeated San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown this morning in the race to head the nation€™s largest pension fund. It´s a position with little formal power but a lot of clout in corporate boardrooms.

The race for president of the California Public Employees´ Retirement System was won by Harrigan, vice president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union. The 13-member board elected him to a one-year term. The post can sway public opinion and corporate behavior.

CalPERS has 1.3 million state and local government members and $133 billion in investments. It ranks as one of the nation€™s most powerful pension funds.