I have got a job interview for the company called 'TIAA-CREF'. I was not aware about the functions of the company. But I recently found out that it stands for 'Teachers Insurance and Annuity Product'.

Brief Intro from Wikipedia:


The Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association (TIAA, formerly 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 serves 3.9 million active and retired employees participating at more than 15,000 institutions and has $502 billion^[2] in combined assets under management (as of December 31, 2012).

TIAA 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.

In recent years the company has greatly expanded its capabilities and advisory services and broadened clients' investment choices. Internally it has focused on developing customer support IT infrastructure and leadership development.^[4]

At the retail level, TIAA offers Traditional and Rollover Individual Retirement Accounts, Roth IRAs, mutual funds, after-tax annuities and life insurance (through TIAA Life), 529 college savings plans, Coverdell Education Savings Accounts, financial planning, and trust and investment management (through TIAA Trust Company, FSB). These investments are offered to the general public, and TIAA is no longer limited to the academic community.^[5]

On the institutional side, TIAA Asset Management serves institutional investors and intermediaries, including registered investment advisors, investment-only defined contribution platforms and broker/dealers.

While TIAA is considered to be an academic pension option at universities in the US, it is not associated with the concept of unions or organized labor (which traditionally sought and protected the pensions of workers in the US). So, if a worker's lifetime pension is affected at a university, TIAA is not operated as a party involved in labor-management or management-management disputes.