Thasunda Brown Duckett, the top Black executive at JPMorgan Chase & Co., is leaving the bank to become CEO of retirement-services provider TIAA.
She becomes chief executive officer and president of TIAA on May 1, succeeding Roger W. Ferguson Jr., 69, who had announced his plans to retire, the New York-based firm said in a statement Thursday. Duckett, 47, was most recently CEO of Chase Consumer Banking.
“Thasunda is widely recognized as an exceptionally dynamic and inspirational leader,” Ronald L. Thompson, chairman of TIAA’s board of trustees, said in the statement. “She brings invaluable experience leading and growing large, complex businesses, setting and executing strategy, improving client experience and attracting and developing talent.”
Duckett arrives at the firm at a time of consolidation and pressure in the asset-management industry. Firms are feeling the strain of competition over fees and scrutiny over performance. TIAA, which managed about $1.3 trillion as of Dec. 31, was an early participant in a wave of dealmaking, with its purchase of Nuveen Investments in 2014.
Duckett joined JPMorgan in 2004. She helped the company expand its banking network to more than $800 billion in deposits and 4,900 branches, serving 25 million households across the country, according to a memo to JPMorgan staff from co-president Gordon Smith.
“As a passionate advocate for financial health, Thasunda also worked hard to put more under-served Americans on a path to financial health and resilience,” Smith wrote. “And importantly, she was a driving force behind the development and launch of Advancing Black Pathways, helping more Black Americans achieve sustained economic success.”
JPMorgan will announce succession plans shortly, with its consumer-banking leadership team reporting to Smith in the meantime, he said. CEO Jamie Dimon congratulated Duckett on her move to TIAA, saying in a statement that she’s “an outstanding leader and role model, and we will miss her.”
Ferguson, whose retirement was announced last year, had planned to stay at TIAA through March, but will extend his tenure until May. He spent 13 years at TIAA’s helm, and was previously vice chairman of the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors from 1999 through 2006.
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