Former Fed Vice Chair Joins TIAA-CREF

Former Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Roger Ferguson will be the new chief executive of TIAA-CREF.

With 3.4 million customers, the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association – College Retirement Equities Fund has controlled the majority of retirement assets of academic workers, yet in the past, many critics have called the group a “poor man’s Vanguard.”

"I don't think we're a poor man's anything," said Ferguson, 57, told The Wall Street Journal. "My goal is to make sure we're second to none."

Ferguson was considered Alan Greenspan’s No. 2 at the Fed, and led the response to the 9/11 attacks. Before joining the Fed, he was a partner at McKinsey & Co. and an attorney at Davis Polk & Wardwell. After leaving the Fed in 2006, he joined Swiss Reinsurance Co.

“(Ferguson is) perfectly suited to deal with the kinds of people who make up the TIAA constituency," said former Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Arthur Levitt.

Ferguson attended Harvard University, where he received an undergraduate degree, a law degree and a Ph.D. in economics. He will replace Herbert Allison, who is retiring, on April 14.

The staff of Money Management Executive ("MME") has prepared these capsule summaries based on reports published by the news sources to which they are attributed. Those news sources are not associated with MME, and have not prepared, sponsored, endorsed, or approved these summaries.