TIAA–CREF

Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association – College Retirement Equities Fund (TIAA–CREF) is a Fortune 100 financial services organization that is the leading retirement provider for people who work in the academic, research, medical and cultural fields. TIAA–CREF serves 3.9 million active and retired employees participating at more than 15,000 institutions and has $502 billion in combined assets under management (as of December 31, 2012).

Much of TIAA–CREF operates on a not-for-profit basis, with surplus returned to participants. TIAA–CREF is headquartered in New York City in the United States and has major offices in Denver, Colorado; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Dallas, Texas; as well as seventy local offices throughout the U.S.. In 2013, TIAA–CREF ranked 97th on Fortune's list of the 500 largest corporations in America.

Profile

TIAA–CREF was created to replace the system of free pensions provided by Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching for professors. When the original fund proved inadequate, TIAA was created in an Act of the New York State Legislature in 1918 as a stock life insurance company for the purpose of providing retirement income for professors through fixed premium guaranteed deferred annuity contracts. Later, in 1952, CREF was created to allow professors to invest in the stock market through the nation's first variable annuity. Its core business continues to be retirement plan administration and annuity products. It is by far the largest manager of employer-sponsored 403(b) tax-sheltered annuity plans, a defined contribution retirement plan for employees of 501(c)(3) educational, religious, and charitable organizations. The company also offers 401(k) and 457 plans, Keogh plans, and Supplemental Retirement Plans. Contributions from these plans are typically invested in the company's traditional or variable annuities or its line of mutual funds.