Thasunda Brown Duckett
President and Chief Executive Officer
Executive
4 yr
14 reports
Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America (TIAA)
Nuveen CEO is the single largest business head under TIAA’s CEO
Financials · Fortune #98 · Hybrid structure · 16K employees · New York, New York
7
CEO span
↓ tighter than peers (avg 8)
2.3
Avg span
tight
3
Max depth
3 levels
3.9 yr
Avg tenure
43%
Internal hires
near industry avg
Interactive org chart
Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America (TIAA) organizational chart
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Nuveen’s CEO reporting directly to TIAA’s CEO is the defining structural feature of the organization. This page details TIAA’s enterprise leadership structure, key executives, departmental breakdowns, and peer comparisons to highlight how insurance and asset management are governed together.
What to model
Use the chart to test org decisions, not just view reporting lines
Start with the public baseline, then use the scenario views and source-backed changes to ask what happens when leadership, span, or team ownership shifts.
Latest signal Justin Williams joined as Chief Financial Officer
Appointed CFO effective March 2023.
Source · See change logScenario views in the chart
- Add Chief AI Officer Introduce a Chief AI Officer reporting to the CEO to coordinate enterprise-wide AI, data, and automation strategy.
- Move Nuveen under COO Shift Nuveen’s reporting line from the CEO to the COO to reduce CEO span and emphasize operational integration.
Atlas work this supports
- Connect Workday or UKG Get these analytics for YOUR org — tenure, span of control, headcount, automatically from your HRIS.
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- Plan a Reorg Use this as a starting point. Model scenarios, compare structures, present options to your board.
The people
Who's running this
8 executives identified as Named Executive Officers in the most recent SEC proxy. Bar length scales with tenure.
internal
William Huffman
Chief Executive Officer, Nuveen
Asset Management
4 yr
1 reports
David Nason
Chief Operating Officer
Operations
3 yr
2 reports
Justin Williams
Chief Financial Officer
Finance
2 yr
2 reports
internal
Andrew Jones
Chief Investment Officer
Investments
4 yr
0 reports
Pamela Heard
Executive Vice President & Chief Legal Officer
Legal
6 yr
1 reports
Lisa Davis
Chief Human Resources Officer
Human Resources
5 yr
1 reports
Leigh Schermerhorn
Chief Communications Officer
Communications
3 yr
0 reports
The businesses
How Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America (TIAA) divides the work
3 divisions report into the group CEO. Tile size scales with estimated headcount.
Asset Management (Nuveen)
3K employees
CEO, Nuveen (William Huffman)
Global asset management arm overseeing public and private investments.
Retirement Services
6K employees
CEO (Thasunda Brown Duckett)
Provides retirement, annuity, and lifetime income products to institutions and individuals.
General Investments
1K employees
Chief Investment Officer (Andrew Jones)
Manages general account and policyholder investment portfolios.
The thesis
Why this org is unusual
Nuveen operates as a largely autonomous asset-management platform whose CEO reports directly to TIAA’s group CEO.
This structure makes Nuveen the single largest and most powerful operating unit in the enterprise, reflecting TIAA’s dual identity as both an insurance provider and a global asset manager.
Beyond Nuveen, the organization is functionally oriented, with finance, operations, legal, HR, and investments all reporting directly to the CEO. The presence of a COO and CIO indicates an execution-heavy enterprise model rather than a holding-company structure. Depth remains limited to about four layers, keeping decision-making relatively centralized at the top.
- Nuveen CEO reports directly to group CEO
- Hybrid insurance and asset management structure
The comparison
How Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America (TIAA) stacks up
Compared with other large mutual and insurance-linked financial institutions such as MassMutual or New York Life, TIAA places unusually strong emphasis on asset management leadership via Nuveen. Many peers separate asset management into subsidiaries with less direct CEO visibility. Unlike publicly traded asset managers …
C-suite size
Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America (TIAA)
8
New York Life
9
MassMutual
8
T. Rowe Price
7
Reporting depth
Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America (TIAA)
3 levels
New York Life
4 levels
MassMutual
4 levels
5 levels
T. Rowe Price
4 levels
Avg C-suite tenure
Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America (TIAA)
4 yr
New York Life
6 yr
MassMutual
7 yr
8 yr
T. Rowe Price
9 yr
Has COO / Has CAIO
Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America (TIAA) ✓ COO — no CAIO
New York Life ✓ COO — no CAIO
MassMutual ✓ COO — no CAIO
T. Rowe Price — no COO — no CAIO
Current signals
What changed recently
The most consequential recent change was the appointment of Justin Williams as CFO in 2023.
- Date not confirmed new
- Date not confirmed reorgNuveen Asset Management Reporting Line
Confirmed continued direct reporting of Nuveen CEO to TIAA CEO in 2024 leadership update.
Source
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is the CEO of TIAA?
Thasunda Brown Duckett has served as President and CEO of TIAA since 2021.
What type of organizational structure does TIAA use?
TIAA uses a hybrid enterprise structure combining functional leadership with a major asset-management subsidiary, Nuveen.
How many direct reports does TIAA's CEO have?
TIAA’s CEO has seven direct executive reports, including the CEO of Nuveen.
How has TIAA's leadership changed recently?
Recent changes include the appointment of Justin Williams as CFO in 2023 and confirmation of Nuveen’s direct reporting line in 2024.
Who reports directly to TIAA's CEO?
Direct reports include the CFO, COO, CIO, Chief Legal Officer, CHRO, Chief Communications Officer, and the CEO of Nuveen.
Sources
- Company Newsroom, Mar 2023
- Company Leadership Update, 2024
Reference
Cite this page
If you reference this page in research, analysis, or news writing, use one of the formats below. Citation includes the SEC filing source where applicable.
APA 7th
Creately. (2026). Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America (TIAA) organizational structure. Creately. Retrieved , from https://creately.com/org-chart/fortune-500/tiaa/MLA 9th
"Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America (TIAA) Organizational Structure." Creately, April 1, 2026, https://creately.com/org-chart/fortune-500/tiaa/. Accessed .Chicago 17
Creately. "Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America (TIAA) Organizational Structure." Last modified April 1, 2026. https://creately.com/org-chart/fortune-500/tiaa/.Permanent URL: https://creately.com/org-chart/fortune-500/tiaa/ · last updated 2026-04-01