On Thursday, the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America, TIAA, announced Thasunda Brown Duckett as the next CEO. When Duckett steps into her new role on May 1, she will become the second black woman to currently lead a Fortune 500 company, joining Walgreens new CEO Rosalind Brewer on the list.
“I am so grateful for all the shoulders I stand on,” Duckett, who is currently the CEO of Chase Consumer Banking, said in an Instagram post. Duckett not only thanked her Chase colleagues for their support, but also thanked her family and friends by saying “you are creating the space for me to live my purpose.”
Born in Rochester, New York and raised in Texas, Duckett has been outspoken about how her humble upbringing led her to a financial career.
“If you know what it’s like to look in the fridge and see plain baking soda, or know what it’s like to have your lights off, personal finances are important,” she told The New York Times in 2019.
As CEO of Chase Consumer Banking, a position she has held since 2016, Duckett has worked tirelessly to not only educate others about the importance of financial literacy, but also diversify the pipeline of talent entering the field. In her role, she was the title sponsor of JPMorgan Chase’s Advancing Black Pathways program, an initiative that aimed to help black Americans seal historic achievements in wealth, education, and career opportunities. She also served as committee leader of the bank’s Women on the Move initiative, which provides financial education to women as well as career and business opportunities.
Prior to her current position, Duckett, who has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Houston and an MBA from Hankamer School of Business at Baylor University, was CEO of Chase Auto Finance, SVP for Emerging Markets and Affordable Loans, and SVP in Home Loans. Before joining Chase in 2004, she began her career at Fannie Mae in 1996, where she helped lead affordable housing initiatives for people of color.
As the new CEO of TIAA, Duckett will not only be the second black woman to currently lead a Fortune 500 company, but she will also be only the fourth black woman in history to serve as CEO of the Fortune 500. Ursula Burns was the first to serve as CEO of Xerox from 2009 to 2016. And Mary Winston was second to serve as interim CEO at Bed Bath & Beyond in 2019, before being replaced by permanent CEO Mark Tritton.
Duckett succeeds current TIAA CEO Roger W. Ferguson Jr. op, who was just one of the five Black CEOs in the Fortune 500 prior to Brewer’s announcement earlier this year. TIAA is the first company in Fortune 500 history to have two black CEOs in a row.
Looking back on her journey and the personal experiences she’s had along the way, Duckett says she immediately thought of her father when she first accepted her new role.
“ I often think of the day my dad asked me to help him plan his retirement, and I had to tell him, ‘Dad, your retirement is not enough,’ ” she said in a statement. Duckett’s father, she says, worked in a Xerox warehouse in New Jersey before he lost his job and the family moved to Texas. Her mother, she says, worked as a teacher. “Now, thanks to his work and sacrifices and the support of many others who have guided me throughout my life and career, I have been blessed to join TIAA, which has more than $ 500 billion in life income and other income since it was founded in 1918. benefits paid. “
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