California Public Employees’ Retirement System President Sean Harrigan, who has led the largest American pension fund to challenge businesses on corporate governance, may be ousted from the pension’s board next year.

Rob Feckner, the chairman of the fund’s investment committee, said the state Personnel Board may vote today against sending Mr. Harrigan to the Calpers board as its representative again after his term expires in January.

“He’s been very outspoken and I think that’s caused some consternation with the governor, the Republican Party, and a lot of high-level CEOs of companies we’ve taken to task,” Mr. Feckner, a supporter of Harrigan, said in a telephone interview. “They think if they remove the head of the dragon, the dragon dies.”

[However if Mr. Harrigan is ousted from the board of Calpers, the fund won’t back off its activist approach to corporate governance, Mr. Feckner said, according to Dow Jones Newswires.

“A majority of the board still have right-thinking minds, and we have a dedicated and talented staff that will continue to do their jobs,” said Mr. Feckner, according to Dow Jones.]

Mr. Harrigan, who is vice president of the International Food and Commercial Workers Union, did not immediately return telephone messages. Calpers, with $177 billion in assets, has tried to pressure companies on executive compensation and conflicts of interest on boards.

This year, Calpers withheld votes from hundreds of corporate directors and rallied shareholders to withhold their votes from Walt Disney Company’s chief executive, Michael Eisner. It was criticized for withholding votes for directors, including Warren Buffett, the billionaire investor who has long been an advocate of shareholder rights. Mr. Buffett was an economic adviser to Republican Governor Schwarzenegger.

The pension fund has been criticized by the California Republican party and by business groups such as the California Chamber of Commerce, which endorsed Mr. Schwarzenegger during his campaign last year, for yielding to the interests of labor unions and Democratic politicians.

Mr. Harrigan told the Los Angeles Times that he would be ousted, according to a story published yesterday.

Under Mr. Harrigan, Calpers backed a group seeking to oust Safeway Incorporated’s chairman, Steven Burd, and two directors from the grocery store chain, which was involved in a labor dispute with the United Food and Commercial Workers union, which Mr. Harrigan helps lead.

Calpers also opposed Anthem Inc.’s planned purchase of WellPoint Health Networks Inc. over the issue of executive pay, challenging a merger that has lifted the stock prices of both companies. Treasurer Phil Angelides, a Democrat and another member of the Calpers board, was a critic of the transaction.

“Calpers, under the direction of Sean Harrigan, Phil Angelides and a total of 11 board members with ties to organized labor, has been preoccupied with an activist agenda that favors union interests rather than focusing on the bottom line that ultimately benefits the millions of retirees who rely on Calpers,” said a spokeswoman for the California Republican Party, Karen Hanretty.

Mr. Harrigan is one of five members of the California Personnel Board, which runs the state’s civil service system. He was appointed to the board by Governor Gray Davis and selected to represent the board at Calpers in 1999.

Mr. Harrigan was elected president by the 13-member Calpers board of trustees in February 2003, beating then-San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown for the position.

Calpers’ president sets the agenda for the board’s monthly meetings, oversees deliberations and appoints committee members. The president, who does not vote except to break a tie, represents Calpers to outside organizations.

Ron Alvarado, the vice president of the State Personnel Board, is expected to succeed Mr. Harrigan on the Calpers’ board, Mr. Feckner said.