Thasunda Brown Duckett

With career stops at JPMorgan Chase and Fannie Mae before becoming CEO of TIAA in 2021, Thasunda Brown Duckett has decades of experience in the financial industry, which she is now using to advocate for greater gender equality and everyday retirement savers. One of two Black women CEOs in the Fortune 500, Duckett has been tasked with righting the ship at the retirement services provider, which has faced significant challenges in the past few years as more of its core customers—teachers and other nonprofit workers—opt for alternative retirement investment options. TIAA’s assets under management did increase last year, from $1.28 trillion in 2023 to $1.4 trillion by December 2024, but the company reported a net loss of $1.9 billion. Over the past few years, Duckett has overseen the expansion of both the company’s client pool—moving beyond 403(b) accounts to corporate 401(k)s—and product offerings, and the company’s revenues grew slightly to about $47 billion in 2024.