Jeffrey Diermeier, the former president and CEO of the CFA Institute, has been elected chairman of the Financial Accounting Foundation’s board of trustees, succeeding John Brennan on Wednesday.

Jeffrey Diermeier

The FAF is the parent organization of the Financial Accounting Standards Board, the Governmental Accounting Standards Board and the upcoming Private Company Council. Diermeier has served on the FAF board since 2009 and will succeed Brennan, who is chairman emeritus of the Vanguard Group. Brennan was elected chairman of the FAF board in February 2009 and will continue to serve for the balance of his five-year term, through December 2013.

“Today’s announcements emphasize the importance of the investor perspective to the FAF and our standard-setting Boards,” Brennan said in a statement Wednesday. “Jeff Diermeier is a highly regarded investor who has successfully overseen the management of hundreds of billions of dollars in assets over many years and is especially well qualified to lead the FAF board of trustees.”

Diermeier, who will serve a three-year term, headed the CFA Institute until his retirement at the end of 2008. Previously, he was global chief investment officer at UBS Global Asset Management, overseeing the management of more than $400 billion in assets. He worked with UBS and its predecessors for almost 30 years in various positions, including head of asset allocation, head of the U.S. equity division, and deputy chief investment officer. He was a founding managing partner of the former Brinson Partners, Inc. He holds a BBA and an MBA from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

“I’m honored to have been elected chairman of the FAF Board of Trustees,” Diermeier said. “I’m firmly committed to maintaining the integrity and independence of our standard-setting boards while working to ensure that the standard setting process remains fair, open, and transparent to all of our stakeholders.”

“We at the FAF thank Jack Brennan for his four years of dedicated service as chairman,” said FAF president and CEO Teresa S. Polley. “Under Jack’s leadership, the trustees significantly expanded their outreach to our stakeholders and implemented major changes as part of their broadened oversight responsibilities–the Private Company Council, the Post-Implementation Review Process, and the academic study of the GASB mission, are just three examples.

“We have had the privilege of working closely with Jeff Diermeier during the past four years, and we’re very excited about continuing and expanding that relationship as Jeff assumes his new role as chairman,” she added.

Blackrock CFO Appointed as Trustee

The FAF also said Wednesday that Ann Marie Petach, CFO and senior managing director of the private equity firm Blackrock Inc., has been appointed to the FAF board of trustees. Her appointment fills a vacancy on the board, with a term that extends to December 2014. At that time, she will be eligible to be reappointed for an additional three years.

“Ann Marie Petach is CFO of one of the largest investment management companies in the world,” said Brennan. “Earlier in her career, as treasurer of Ford Motor Company, she was responsible for overseeing Ford’s global pension assets. We’re very pleased to welcome both Jeff and Ann Marie to these roles.”

Polley said that Petach’s long experience as both a preparer of financial statements and an investor will bring important expertise to the board of trustees. Before joining Blackrock as managing director and head of business finance in 2007, MsPetach worked at Ford Motor Company for more than 20 years in positions of increasing responsibility. Her final position at Ford was treasurer and corporate vice president.