TIAA

The corporations on our annual list of the world's 500 largest companies combined to generate $41.7 trillion in revenue over the past year.

Fortune Global 500

Almost $20 trillion in revenue—and a record-breaking $1.87 trillion in profits. Introducing the 2025 Fortune 500, the definitive list of the biggest companies in America.

Fortune 500

Leaders in all industries rely more than ever on Big Tech—and appreciate the giants that deliver, at scale, without drama.

World's Most Admired Companies

The corporations on our annual list posted aggregate revenues of $41 trillion for the second year in a row.

Industries included in the sector are banks, insurance, and real estate companies.

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The Fortune 500, in its 70th year in 2024, ranks the biggest U.S. companies by revenue.

The 26th edition of the list shows how much esteem Big Tech giants command among other business leaders.

The 25th Fortune World’s Most Admired Companies list suggests that tech giants’ peers respect them as much as ever.

The corporations on our annual list of the world’s largest companies delivered a record $41 trillion in aggregate revenues.

The Fortune 500, in its 69th year in 2023, ranks the biggest U.S. companies by revenue.

Just as it dominates our economy, Big Tech now dominates Fortune’s annual ranking of corporate reputation.

Aggregate sales hit $37.8 trillion last year—an increase of 19%, the highest annual growth rate in the list’s history.

This year’s Fortune 500 marks the 68th running of the list.

<span style="font-weight: 400">The Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America (TIAA) is a major provider of insurance and retirement-savings accounts, especially to people working in academia, education, and state and local government. Founded by Andrew Carnegie in 1918, the company has about 5 million customers nationwide and $1.4 trillion in assets under management. Revenue sagged by 2.6% at TIAA in 2021, but profits grew robustly, and the company announced plans to add as many as 2,000 new jobs at a new corporate center in Frisco, Texas.</span>

After a year in which humanity leaned more heavily than ever on tech giants, see which companies topped Fortune's ranking of corporate reputation.

Total revenue for the world’s biggest companies fell 4.8% to $31.7 trillion this year—the first decline in half a decade.

<span data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:&quot;Revenues for the financial services provider reached $ 41.6 billion in 2020, up almost 3% from the year prior. Amid the coronavirus pandemic, TIAA offered a voluntary buyout to 75% of its 16,500 employees worldwide; in July 2020, the company reported that the offer resulted in a 10% reduction in its workforce. Then–president and CEO Roger Ferguson Jr. said that TIAA would not lay off any employees for the remainder of 2020 or in 2021. Meanwhile, the company has broken new ground in diversity and culture: This May, Thasunda Brown Duckett succeeded Ferguson as CEO, marking TIAA as the first Fortune 500 company in history to have two Black chief executives in a row.&quot;}" data-sheets-userformat="{&quot;2&quot;:12673,&quot;3&quot;:{&quot;1&quot;:0},&quot;10&quot;:2,&quot;11&quot;:4,&quot;15&quot;:&quot;Calibri, Arial&quot;,&quot;16&quot;:11}" data-sheets-textstyleruns="{&quot;1&quot;:0}{&quot;1&quot;:596,&quot;2&quot;:{&quot;6&quot;:1}}{&quot;1&quot;:603}">Revenues for the financial services provider reached $ 41.6 billion in 2020, up almost 3% from the year prior. Amid the coronavirus pandemic, TIAA offered a voluntary buyout to 75% of its 16,500 employees worldwide; in July 2020, the company reported that the offer resulted in a 10% reduction in its workforce. Then–president and CEO Roger Ferguson Jr. said that TIAA would not lay off any employees for the remainder of 2020 or in 2021. Meanwhile, the company has broken new ground in diversity and culture: This May, Thasunda Brown Duckett succeeded Ferguson as CEO, marking TIAA as the first Fortune 500 company in history to have two Black chief executives in a row.</span>

This year’s Fortune 500 marks the 67th running of the list.

For an astounding 13th straight year, Apple claims the top spot in Fortune’s annual ranking of corporate reputation, based on a survey of almost 3,800 executives, directors, and analysts.

This year's Fortune Global 500 generated $33.3 trillion in revenues and $2.1 trillion in profits.

G500-Featured Image-Logo-2020

The financial services provider had $1.1 trillion in assets under management at the end of 2019, up from just shy of $1 trillion the year prior. The year saw TIAA make a major pivot away from retail mortgage lending toward digital mortgages, a change of direction after a 2017 acquisition of EverBank that aimed to expand TIAA's retail footprint. The shift, amid rising interest rates and falling consumer demand, has meant closing some retail branches, with an agreement for U.S. Bank to acquire some.

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 66th running of the list.

F500-2020-081-TIAA

Here are the World's Most Admired Companies for 2019 as ranked in their industries. See who made the list.

This year's Fortune Global 500 generated $27.7 trillion in revenues and $1.5 trillion in profits.

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 65th running of the list.

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 64th running of the list.

Here are the World's Most Admired Companies for 2017 as ranked in their industries. See who made the list.

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 63rd running of the list.

Here are the World's Most Admired Companies for 2016 as ranked in their industries. See who made the list.

This year's Fortune Global 500 generated $27.6 trillion in revenues and $1.5 trillion in profits.

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 62nd running of the list.

Business insiders have spoken: Asked which companies they most admire, more than 4,100 executives, directors, and analysts chose these top 50 All-Stars.

The world's 500 largest companies generated $31.2 trillion in revenues and $1.7 trillion in profits in 2014. Together, this year's Fortune Global 500 employ 65 million people worldwide and are represented by 36 countries.

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 61st running of the list. Wal-Mart claims the top spot again. See who made the list.

Global business is back. After limping through a worldwide financial crisis and economic slowdown, the 500 largest companies ranked by revenues shattered all sorts of performance records in 2013: They racked up combined revenues of $31.1 trillion, up 2.5% from 2012, and profits soared 27% to nearly $2 trillion. China’s 95 companies (up from 89 last year) posted $5.8 trillion in revenues. The U.S. has four fewer companies on the list than last year but remains (for now) the country leader, with 128 corporations on the list—including No. 1 Wal-Mart Stores—reporting $8.6 trillion in revenues. 

Wal-Mart stayed on top as its sales crept closer to half-a-trillion dollars. Apple moved into the top five. And UnitedHealth Group continued its steady climb. 

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TIAA provides financial and insurance services for workers in academic, governmental, health care, and nonprofit organizations. TIAA was founded as a nonprofit in 1918, through the philanthropy of Andrew Carnegie, to provide a fully funded pension system for faculty in higher education.

TIAA Company Profile, Stock Price, News, Rankings

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TIAA | Fortune

TIAA Company Profile, Stock Price, News, Rankings | Fortune

John Kell

Technologist at 107-year-old company warns about overspending on AI: ‘People can get carried away’

/2025/03/12/tiaa-gen-ai/

Orianna Rosa Royle

Wall Street titan admits she allocates 30% of her time to her kids because ‘work-life balance is a lie’

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Chloe Berger

Wall Street titan warns that job titles come and go but the only thing that matters is character

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Sunny Nagpaul

Black CEO representation on the Fortune 500 is so bad that this year’s 1.6% is a near-record high. Here’s what could turn it around

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Trey Williams

TIAA CEO says ‘work-life balance is a lie,’ so she treats her time like a diversified portfolio: ‘Sometimes you have to short the stock’

/2023/10/20/tiaa-work-life-balance-ceo-time-management-caregiving-mother/

https://fortune.com/2023/10/20/tiaa-work-life-balance-ceo-time-management-caregiving-mother/?itm_source=parsely-api

Black CEO representation on the Fortune 500 is so bad that this year's 1.6% is a near-record high. Here's what could turn it around

https://fortune.com/2024/02/09/black-ceos-fortune-500-high-workplace-diversity/?itm_source=parsely-api

Technologist at 107-year-old company warns about overspending on AI: 'People can get carried away'

https://fortune.com/2025/03/12/tiaa-gen-ai/?itm_source=parsely-api

Lindsay LoBue, Chief Operating Officer, Carlylem
David Nason, Senior Executive Vice President and COO, TIAA; President, TIAA Wealth Management,
Anand Selvakesari, Chief Operating Officer, Citi  Moderator: Diane Brady, Executive Editorial Director, Fortune; Co-chair, Fortune COO Summit 

COO Summit 2024: Margin Marvels - How Finance COOs Are Turning Volatility Into Opportunity

Conferences

Lindsay LoBue, Carlylem, David Nason, TIAA; TIAA Wealth Management,
Anand Selvakesari, Citi, Diane Brady, Executive Editorial Director, Fortune

Tom Davidson, Founder and CEO, EVERFI from Blackbaud, David Nason, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, TIAA; President, TIAA Wealth Management, Vanessa Okwuraiwe, Principal, Edward Jones Moderator: Diane Brady, FORTUNE

Future of Finance 2024: Preparing the Next Generation for Financial Success

Tom Davidson, EVERFI from Blackbaud, David Nason, TIAA; President, TIAA Wealth Management, Vanessa Okwuraiwe, Edward Jones, Diane Brady, FORTUNE

Hello, Tom. David Vanessa. Good to see you. II, I know I've been a start but I do like lightning rounds. I think it's good just to get the juices flowing since we're talking about, you know, preparing the next generation. I'm gonna start with you, Tom, what do you think we're spending too much time or money on when it comes to this space? And hi, thanks for joining us. Great. Hello, it's really great to be here, I would say and this will sound counter to like what I spend every single day of my life doing. But, um, I think we've talked too much about financial education and financial wellness. There's just an enormous amount of terrible advice kind of coming through the system now and new channels that there hasn't been before. There's also incredibly strong new ways to reach people, but we've done a lot of talking and I think it's the opportunity now to actually come behind that and build the infrastructure, particularly for young people to allow them to automate getting into the game of financial services. Do you disagree? I actually agree. And I'll kind of double down and say generic advertising about this is the biggest mistake. What, what really needs to happen in my view for financial education is it needs to be short, relatable and understandable and not at this very high macro level that people can understand and make it real for them. Well, no one has mentioned meme stocks yet. So if you're thinking about, so if you ask me about what's been overhyped at the moment, meals, definitely. But, but I would agree that, you know, we have spent a lot of time talking about financial education. Um But really we need to make sure we start to activate and use technology as an enabler rather than this. Um You know, I go bad for want of the best of phrase. So let me get to that second part, then let's go from the 30,000 ft down, you know, when you think about some of the more intriguing tools, um or, you know, maybe tactics out there, um You mentioned let's start doing what's rising on your radar in terms of what's actually making a difference. Yeah, I think that um you're seeing still the very early innings of um what what I would call is unlocking mechanisms. Um If you think about reward systems and things built into actual learning that allow you to actually activate an account of 529 a long term saving program for a child or families or others, um That's something that we feel very strongly about that there's lots of avenues, but the schools are the most structured um literal physical plant that we have in order to make this happen. So we've focused for 16 years on actually going into schools and going um literally going where uh all of the wonderful learning and there's infrastructure and support. And so we feel very strongly that that's not the only place, but that's a place and that um the co the country in particular needs to like triple down on that idea of enablement for young people in schools, in classrooms and use that as a venue. So I'm not gonna give you the perspective. Ti A is a company that is driven and mission driven to help people prepare for retirement. So I'll give you the employer's perspective, what's working, things like auto enrollment, things like making it easy for people to see opt out, not opt in, opt out, not opt in incentivize employers to provide the tax breaks that are available to their employers, teaching them what those things are. These are very easy things. Retirement policy is I think one of the three issues left in America that's bipartisan. So policy actually helps with this type of thing. So policy direction in the right way to help people save more and making it easier for employers to do this and then letting assets flow easily from different employers as people move around a lot more, these things really work. So an 18 year old, the beauty of compound investment and they'll put all their money in there. I do think that's very powerful. Have it for you, Vanessa. Well, so Edward Jones, we've been around for a long time. We've been around for over 100 years. But when almost every community in the United States, one but one count I might need to invest on the, we'll get there, we'll, we'll get there. But we know that we have this massive footprint that we can definitely leverage. And so what we've been trying to do is to make sure that we can get into schools. So of course, we have a financial education program. We partnered with F I in 2020 to make sure that we can get um into especially high needs schools. So we're in over 50% of high needs schools, over 6000 high schools and making a difference. We did say that by the end of 2025 our goal was to, to, to reach at least 1 million learners and we're over 900,000. So we're making progress. Thank you very much. We're, we're making progress in partnership with our, you know, um our, our great um company um fi but there's still a lot of work to do and just making sure that we can to have financial information in a smart and digestible way that's really appealing to young people because they want it, you know, one of the things that's interesting the last few years you think about, um what would seem to be innocuous, you know, um financial inclusion, um economic, you know, justice and addressing, especially for marginalized communities. This has become more difficult and I'm curious about whether the um or how the backlash against DE I and the like, how is that impacting if at all this space, is it just a conversation? Well, I would say broadly, you know, it's interesting, we do a lot of other things besides financial education. What's, what's interesting about this one? Is this, first of all, the politics, I was, I'm like a washed up politician. I was a state legislator for long time. And so I'm like kind of a state legislator at 22. I was, yeah, very lot of wisdom there, a lot of wisdom there at 22 all I had learned. Um the um but the uh you know, what's fascinating about this one is we focus on, you know, mental health, suicide prevention, we focus on bullying, like we focus on a lot of yours. Those are incredibly difficult things to um inculcate into the culture of a school. The conversations, kitchen table, conversations. This, you know, financial literacy is actually like the easiest put that we take and it's actually something in a world that's very complicated. This is actually one of the easier ones from an infrastructure perspective. You can either we have it in, you know, we have, these massive institutions have the ability to do it. We've got incredible hearts and minds that wanna do it. And this is just to focus on in the next 10 years. Can you do what Jones has done and, and, and go and do something on a massive scale for kids in areas that there isn't any money for? And are you willing to step up and do that? That's a big idea. But it's a, it's an attainable idea. And so that's what gets me excited is this is actually something that can. So there's momentum behind. Have you noticed any difference with the, with regards to, to sort of the um the political environment and such? Not really, I, I think to your point, people do align on the need for financial wellness. That's a goal that we have financial wellness for as many people as we can reach. So I think that's something that is bipartisan and people agree, we haven't really seen any push back. I would agree with that. The only thing I would say is that the stats are challenging for minority populations that need to be addressed if you think about. So our, our research has suggested that 40% of Americans are not ready for retirement, that number is 50 or higher for minority population. So the, the the issue is more profound, but I think you're exactly right, which is, it's bipartisan and everyone kind of aligns. You're more worried about those older generations. Some of all time helps all these types of issues and an older generation has less time and there's a food fight on all of these things. You, you know, you have to be prepared for the fact that some people don't want the private sector in schools. You have the fact that you've got lots of different constituencies around a school around young people. You've got different ways, you know, media that are coming at them. So it's, it's a little bit of a complicated surround sound, but again, doable. Yeah, I want to ask a little bit about the the role of the employer. And let's talk maybe whether it's millennials, Gen Z, this is a generation that's perceived to be coming from a deficit coming into the workplace. You know, they feel they can't afford housing. So the idea that their paycheck can then stretch into savings um maybe seems less attainable. If what is your message to employers? Are you working with them? In terms of you mentioned opt in, is there anything else? Uh opt in is a big one? We are absolutely working with their employers. There's a couple of things we do opt in auto escalation are two things. Number one is providing financial education at the employers that we service. So we will basically create curated programs for kind of high touch people that really understand it. We'll also do Spanish language classes for people in the cafeteria for other people who work at higher education institutions. So you have to, you have to go where people are. You have to understand those types of things. I would say. One other thing I think is important because there's a lot of skepticism around Gen Z and millennials. I'm less worried about them because of two things. One they've got time, time is your best friend for these types of things. And two, I like the fact that they're skeptical and they push back. I like the fact that they went through a very tumultuous period in COVID. Understand what risk looks like. Understand what it's like to come back from risk. I've got a lot of faith that this learning, this population is going to do well on this issue. They're not going to be as reckless as us. I don't know. I think that's, that's, you know, Vanessa, one of the things I want to ask about is this Ed? Wow. Um You know, uh what do you do differently? You know, what do you think moves the needle? How did you approach this space? Making things smarter and more digestible for, for young people? So, one of the things that we did, we, we do a lot of research all the time. It would loans and we partnered with a couple of companies to just really understand, do the, do the next gen or gen next, whatever we choose to call that big group between 18 and 34. Do they actually think in very short term, um, lenses, is that, is that the case? And so we did delve in a, a lot deeper to understand. Well, what's their situation? We found that one in 10 of them still have, still have student debts. Um, only a third have health insurance and, and half, um, don't have any life insurance, which you wouldn't expect, you know, if you're less than 34 for the most part. So once we understood what maybe some of the issues were, we decided to create this new platform that is really just a digital focus, you know, you don't have to come in person to get that education and, and do it nice and short. And so we did it in a way that acknowledges that this generation especially has high anxiety and we decided to just make these, you know, snappy little videos that really speaks to. Well, what does it mean? I use that as a parallel. I you Yes, more youtube videos very short. Um And it speaks to budgeting savings, compounded interest, all these things that we think are still important. I know value systems are changing, but there's still certain things that are universal and will apply whatever age you are. So we've got really good feedback that this is helping. And the other thing we found is that we can't underestimate the importance of our parents and guardians. Um in terms of immersion. So Children learn their first languages at home. Financial education should be treated as a language. And when, when people are immersed at the, the, the home front, you find that they develop better habits when it comes to financial services. So combine that lens to, to be able to create this new digital platform that is really snappy and is getting a really good feedback. We, we launched it last August. We've had over 500,000 engagements and, and, and people seem to be happy with what um what messages they're hearing, you know, you know, I like and it pivots to what you actually said earlier. You have to treat people as like the whole person. We talk about anxiety. How much do you think about that in terms of the programs you're developing? Because you now you have this expert teeth and mental health in other areas. Does that apply to how you approach financial education? Sure. Yeah, I think um I think they've made, made the point earlier about, um you know, all of this is moving to thinking about the student individually. Um unless, you know, the concept of classroom didn't change all that much for a couple of 100 years and 40 seats and a and a chalkboard. And um it's, it's now changing pretty dramatically and I think that's a positive thing because what it ultimately does allows you to within reason, take a lot of individual factors about that student's life. And I think that's been the biggest thing that we've learned, you walk into any classroom that is uh 40 very different humans showing up in very different ways. Um And, uh and any technology ultimately has to be able to track that over time. Um And that's, you know, that's really where we are in this moment. There's incredible things going on that make me very, very optimistic about that potential. This is like both, it's, these are national issues. It's hyper local. I'm going to ask each of you, what advice do you have in terms of how we can create better infrastructure around this? Of course, you mentioned the schools, you were a former lawmaker. I mean, um whether it's on the regulation side or the employer side, give us um something you would change. What would you prioritize to really move the needle? You were higher ranking than I was. Yeah, you higher ranking. We'll start with you. I would make, I like, I'm gonna go from the employer's lens again. I would make money portable. I would make financial education a part of a employee wellness program and I would make an employee wellness program mandatory for all employees over 100 people. Uh We already have the infrastructure. I think the educational institutions, the employers and of course, lobbying the government, we've got financial education in at least 33 states. They're not necessarily all mandated, but they're either recommended or required required. So that's the uh people are heading in the right direction. We just need more alignment across business in order to drive um policy in on the government side. So do you wanna add anything? I would just say um I think the concept of the public sector doing their part of implementing actually a very good required and multi step, not a one and done, you know, a lot of times including us, we tend to um you know, do something senior year during senior week or something, you know, have multi year from second grade on. Um and then on the private sector side, I think every financial institution should actually step up to open accounts and create the long term infrastructure that's portable and can travel with a young person and start that from kindergarten and rock and roll on that. That's a good tactic. My tactic was not giving them any money after 16. That works, that works very well. So I don't think it hasn't yet before we get any tactic or, or that stuck with you in terms of that you would adopt. Um Again, we are in the audience as parents, employers employees, et cetera. What advice? I think the portability and opening those accounts really is very powerful. Is there anything else you would have? I would say I want to do two things. Number one, when I say man, where I said mandatory by the companies doing it, not the government because it's gotta be true to myself here. But what you said is so important. I think parents, I think parents are underrated. I think parents can make these issues very la relatable, very relevant and very, uh tangible to people relatable and tangible is everything for financial education. So, I think parents and guardians are undervalued in terms of their necessity to be a part of this. Yeah. And, and David, I'll double down on that. So we, we find, found that in, in this research study that we did recently, we found that um, 18 to 34 year olds would rather go to their parents. So almost 70% of them would go to their parents for financial advice. So you would think that in the social media world, everyone is gravitating to social media, especially for financial guidance. But we're finding that maybe they can get their financial information and everything else, but when it comes to guidance, they're going to parents. So for me, what I do, I'm trying to start early with my kids. They're eight and 10 years old. Um not, not all your pocket money can be used for LEGO, it's not gonna happen, you know. So how do you take a small portion of that and put it into your bank account and just start those habits really early? So that's something again that we built into our um financial education, not just for the young people, but for the parents across the board. I love that. So I'm gonna give you each a chance to give some final thoughts takeaways. I'm gonna start with you. I think that this is, um, there's gonna be a really, really great next five years where t a lot of the work that the people in this room, uh, you should see yourself deeply in the middle of this conversation. Like every company that was up here today actually has a really important role in this and it sounds a little cheesy. But um you have the ability to weaponize your, you know, your employees and get people out in classrooms. And most importantly, figure out a way that your infrastructure can get baked into a long term infrastructure for kids and you're gonna change its tombstone stuff. You'll, you will change the trajectory of the country. If you do that. I I would say two quick things. The first is that I would like people to understand that we do have a preparedness crisis in this country that people are not saving enough and people are living longer and it's getting worse. So encourage people to save as much as they can as early as they can and understand that. And two, I run a wealth management business here in the wealth management business. People think that financial advice is just for the wealthy. It's not, it needs to be democratized. People need to feel comfortable asking questions about these types of issues and taking that fear away is massively important. Um Yes, um I will double down again on the importance we have as employers. We, we have over 52,000 employees and the influence we can have over all those people is immense. So I think we need to put our own oxygen masks on first, make sure that all our employees have the very financial information and then you create champions who take it out to the rest of the community. So I'd say double down on putting our own ox oxygen mask on first treat our own people, right? And then we can make a bigger impact. I love that. So David Vanessa, thank you very much. Please join me in making our gathering. Thank you. Thank you.

Hear from Melinda Gates, TIAA's Thasunda Brown Duckett, AMD's Lisa Su and Cynt Marshall of the Dallas Mavericks.

Leadership Next: Four Powerful Women

Leadership

the most powerful women cookbook. Oh my God, the food was so good. I know, I know it's really a party. Welcome to Leadership next podcast about the changing rules of business leadership. I'm Alan Murray and I'm Ellen McGirt. We've so long for long talked about empowering women and I think we just need to stop and say no, no, no, we have to make sure women have their full power in society. What do I mean by that? I mean that in their homes and communities and at the very top levels of society that women can control resources, make decisions and shape policies and perspectives. She was on stage recently at Fortune's most powerful Women Summit in Laguna Niguel California. I was in the audience, I was the guy and I think we were all hanging on every word at this point. That's why we thought it would be worth sharing with our listeners here on leadership Next exactly why just let this quality and candor go to waste and for good measure we're gonna share snippets of some of the other women who really resonated with us on stage two over the long term, um everybody needs more technology. I think no matter what you're doing, whether it's for your business or whether it's for um you know, in your personal life or whether it's to solve the next, you know, big health care crisis um or to solve climate change, you need more technology and that's what we do. So from that standpoint, I feel wonderful about the long term and you know, in the in the medium term, there's always things that we have to navigate and I think that's part of life as a ceo these days are a little it's a little bit different because you wake up on any given day and you wonder, ok, what am I going to do today? When I got to the maps, uh we had 10 white men running the Dallas Mavericks. So my first meeting, there were 10 white men and then they brought in two women who were not in leadership to try to take me out. So I would think so, I would think they were at the table, but I knew better. And so so I want to express agenda to to lift women uh and then all of our cultural transformation, deny stuff and then just basic operational effectiveness, just market based compensation, address gender pay equity and all of that. Within 90 days of laying out this vision in the values the 100 day plan, I diversified my leadership team. Within 90 days we went from 10 white men running the Dallas Mavericks to 50% women and 50% people of color. And that's throughout the entire organization. For me, there's a lot more work to be done. But two black women cannot do it alone. We need the sisterhood, we need men, we need all of us and clearly we have to all agree That 44 women does not represent the talent of women that can lead companies clearly to black women does not represent the full talent of women that can run a Fortune 500. So I do think that there's more work that we can do. Um but I'm up for the challenge and challenge is accepted and the assignment is clear.

Thasunda Brown Duckett, President and CEO, TIAA
Interviewer: Maria Aspan, FORTUNE

Most Powerful Women 2022 - Challenge Accepted: Year One

being a business leader at this moment may be tougher than ever and with lingering challenges from the pandemic from inflation, a volatile stock market and fears of recession, but it's also a time of opportunity, a time for change. Our next guest to Shonda Brown Duck, it is excited about being in a leadership position right now despite the headwinds. And as you probably know to Shonda is the president and Ceo of T. I. A. And the big supporter of girls who code, she's one of the two black female Ceos currently leading Fortune 500 companies after taking the helm at T. I. A. Just last year. She is also number 11 on this year's most powerful women list to Shonda joins the M. P. W. Summit co chair and Fortune Senior writer Maria aspen to talk about her first year as chief executive and what lies ahead, Please welcome them to the stage. I love it to Shonda, thank you so much for joining us again. We are so fortunate to have you back on our stage a year after you started and joined us last year. Um Now that you've been Ceo of T. I A. For for a little more than a year, how do you feel about it? Looking back at your first year in the job? What stands out? Yeah, well it's so great to be here and I love the title of our session challenge accepted Um when I think about the last 18 months, you know I like to say I'm jealous of me And I'm jealous of me because I get to surround myself with incredible people, um I'm jealous of me because over the last 18 months um I get to get really clear on who we are and what we're here to do. You know, we exist to secure retirement for millions of Americans and when you think about the problem that still has to be solved that 40% of Americans will run out of money in retirement, especially when you think about the economy, which I know will get to um I'm jealous of me because I get to be at the table. Um I get to make impact uh and when I think about the headwinds, I feel like challenges accepted because if not me then who and the opportunity to drive this company forward on a transformational agenda. The opportunity to make positive impact. Just a line with who I am and I would say the most important thing um is I get to earn the right to leave this organization, which means you have to win hearts and minds every single day and doing that, coming in navigating a pandemic, navigating covid mental health etcetera. You have to get creative on how are you going to win hearts and minds and how are you going to make sure that you are building a culture that's built to last through the highs and the lows, I'd love to dig into the economy since there is so much going on and so much again has changed since a year ago. Bear market rising inflation, rising interest rates. How worried are you? And that we're headed into a recession. Yeah I mean when you think about it, clearly the Fed has been very clear, you know inflation is at 8.3%. Uh said once it get it down to 2%. Um so a recession is looking likely. You know the question is how long how hard um I don't know but I think the most important thing for me is to think about who we serve um to think about everyday americans who are trying to figure out, you know they're the rising costs. Uh Everyone is looking at their statement and it's not looking that great and you think about your parents that maybe thinking about retiring or you're thinking about your parents that are in retirement. Um Or you think about the young people who may have never seen a market this volatile and so what I want to stay focused on is what we can control and what we can control is reaching out and talking to who we serve. What we can control is making sure that everyone has a plan and that we don't time the market that we stay diversified. Um And what we can control especially when it about who we are at T. I. A. Is to make sure that everyone has access to guaranteed income. So that there is one aspect on your portfolio that is not in the red, which is what we've been doing for over 100 years? And so the market will be volatile? That will continue to be volatile. But I think we have to make sure that we're doing all, we're doing all that we can and continue to lead from the front and stay connected with who we serve every day. You've talked in the past about how you kind of hold your father in your mind as who you make products for and how you make decisions as you're navigating this economy. What are you doing to make sure that the Otis browns of the world have access to long term retirement? Yeah. I talk a lot about Rosie and Otis Brown just the names are just awesome, right? Rosie and Otis? Um and you know, I talked about it because my mother is a retired educator. Um and my dad worked in a warehouse uh and drove trucks, did not go to college. And I talk about him so much because while he was working for a company for decades, he did not take advantage of his 41K. That was for him. He only had his pension and to be able to tell your father that you had access to something that you didn't take advantage of. We failed. And so when I think about a market like we're dealing with, I think about, are we talking to everyone? We're all at our jobs every single day. Are you talking to the person that providing security at your company? Are you talking to your executive assistant? Are you talking to your ops people? And are you saying you know what are you invested in our four oh one K. Or 43 B. Plan? Are you maxed out? You know are you staying invested? Are we talking to the young people? And so you can hear the passion because I know what's at stake when we don't and when you think about what's at stake and sometimes people say when you think about retirement, that's like way down the line. Um but the decision that we make in our 20's decide what that way down the line will look like. And when we think about the ability to close the income inequality gap, how can we close it when 40% of people are running out of money in retirement? The number is even more staggering. When you look at people of color, which means the daughter or the son is trying to take care of mom and dad that may not live together. So two households, you're also trying to take care of your young ones and give them a great life and you're trying to live make it make sense. So I think that we have an opportunity to say, how do we make sure that we are preparing our young people to think about their tomorrow so that we're not transferring debt, but we're transferring wealth which means we can all do our part. And so I can't help but think about my mom and dad because I can't help and think about the sacrifices that they made along the way and to not take advantage of something that was for him simply because the flyer the conversation did not connect to a man in the warehouse, did not connect to someone who's working hard every day to put food on the table and to do their very best when their best is insufficient. So I think we can do better. We should do better. And I do think that we can all think about an Otis in a rosy brown as we think about retiring inequality and as we think about this market volatility to make sure that people know the resources and the access that they have for them and that they're actually taking advantage of it. You've talked a lot and alluded to just the racial and gender wealth gaps. How can those of us in this room work to close those gaps at a time when women are still recovering from the economic impact of the pandemic and the racial and the economy is again, No, absolutely. I mean we know that we have to retire inequality right ladies like we have to do it period. I think for us. I call it, you know what can we do? We know that women retire with 30% less than men. Uh We know that we have a savings gap. We know that we have an income gap. We have a guarantee gap. But what can we do? Well, here's just a few simple things. You know one we can make sure that we're looking at our policies at work and making sure that we're addressing any equity inadequacies and that we're always running the numbers and we're always running the reports and then being okay making the changes when you see a discrepancy, we can make sure that our benefits are working and not just to say we have great benefits but are people taking advantage of them? What is the goal of the benefits? Are people on track? Do we not just say that we have financial education? We have a great 401k. Plan? The real question is, what are the outcomes that these benefits are yielding for our people? And how do we just aggregate the data to say our women taking advantage of it at the same pace as men? Are blacks and Latinos taking advantage at the same place as white americans. Are we really asking the harder questions and then are we willing to do the work? And so I do think that there's more that we can do and then also policy, you know, what can we do as a matter of policy to say? How do we make sure that when we think about women that are still the primary caregiver, that the benefits are working for them, that when they had to exit the workforce during Covid and maybe could not contribute to their four oh one K. Plan or 43 B. Plan, they lost compounding interest for two years. How do we make sure that they can catch up? And so I think the question for all of us is to just make sure that we're being intentional and that we're not just checking the box. We're saying is the box working for everyone. And so I do think we have to remain optimistic. I do think we have to ask the hard questions, but I do think that we can do more work. We can retire inequality, but it's gonna take us to operate with a different level of urgency. And I would also think we have to realize it can't just be the sisterhood. We have to bring the men to the table. When you look at 40 for women are running a Fortune 500, you can say, yeah, there's progress. Um factually, but 44, that's like 9%. We're not going to close the inequality gap. We're not going to close the gender gap. If we don't make sure that we bring our allies are advocates to the table and to make sure that we believe it's a problem that we all must solve. Not just the group. Um that may not be at the table at the level that we want. So it's not just women's problem to solve the women gap. Um, it's not just minorities to solve the minority gap. We need all of us to join the table. Um, and I think that if we can get our allies and our advocates uh, to the table at a much accelerated pace, we can make accelerated progress On a personal level. You are of course one of two black women running a Fortune 500 company. I mean we heard last night from Roz Brewer Walgreens about how that sometimes makes her feel. How do you think about it these days? Yeah. I mean I'm on the shoulders of Giants. Um, you know, and I've said this before and I'll say it again, I recognized that it was the cooks and the janitors and the secretaries that introduced my gender and my melanin to corporate America. You know, I understand that talent is created equally. Opportunity is not and I understand that it's not sufficient. That it's just me and ross, not sufficient. Um and so for me, my my hope and my goal is to make sure that whenever I am in a room that I look to see who's in the room, but most importantly who's not. And I'm asking the question, I understand that in my role too much is given much is required. And though it shouldn't be my burden, but carrying a burden is not new to me to women to the culture. Um, And so for me and I know similarly to Roz we're operating with a sense of urgency. You know my hope is that people can see me and say you know what I can create a new chapter on what a Ceo can look like, how a Ceo can move and operate. And maybe that if people can see me that there's another young girl that can say I can be her today. I also think that we have to make sure that it's not just the young girls that can see themselves. We have to make sure that we're having the conversation at the board level. We have to make sure that as Ceo that we're looking at succession pipeline. Not just to say we have X percent of women but where are the women? And are they on a path to be in the C suite? And if not what is getting in the way, what is getting in the way and then how do we do our part? And so for me there's a lot more work to be done. But to black women cannot do it alone. We need the sisterhood, we need men, we need all of us. And clearly we have to all agree That 40 for women does not represent the talent of women that can lead companies clearly to black women does not represent the full talent of women that can run a Fortune 500. So I do think that there's more work that we can do. Um but I'm up for the challenge and challenge is accepted and the assignment is clear. A year from now. What do you want to be talking about on this stage? Progress period a year from now? I want to talk about how we made progress in closing this retirement gap a year from now. I want to talk about the momentum at T. A. And hopefully so many other companies and what we're doing with intentionality to make sure that people can retire with dignity. A year from now. I hope it's not just 44 women running a Fortune 500 a year from now. I hope you all will come up to me and say I did one do better. I did one do better. I decided to do better. I decided to engage with an ally to be an advocate for someone. I decided to look in my office and say who's that brown girl or that black girl where there may not be another brown girl that she can see, but I'm going to stand in the gap. What is our do better? And so a year from now. The market may still be volatile. A year from now. There could still be a lot of headwinds but a year from now we can still decide to make progress all the same and that's what I hope to see a year from now. Thank you. Thank you

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