TIAA Hires Rob Crothers to Head Business Development
BlackRock’s former head of US retirement will lead efforts to develop strategic partnerships.
Rob Crothers
TIAA announced Monday the hiring of Rob Crothers as head of business development and product implementation, starting in November.
Crothers, who had been BlackRock Inc.’s head of U.S. retirement, will lead efforts to develop TIAA’s strategic partnerships and business opportunities in the 401(k) corporate market. He will report to Colbert Narcisse, TIAA’s chief product and business development officer, and will be based in New York.
BlackRock will not replace Crothers directly, according to a company spokesperson; Jaime Magyera will serve as head of wealth and retirement, and Crothers’ responsibilities will be absorbed by others at the firm.
In July, TIAA and Transamerica Corp. announced a strategic partnership to offer the Nuveen Lifecycle Income Collective Investment Trust Series as a default option for retirement plans recordkept by Transamerica. The solution integrates Nuveen’s target-date-fund features with guaranteed lifetime income through TIAA’s Secure Income Account.
“Rob joins us at a time when TIAA’s strategy and strategic investments are coming together,” Narcisse said in a statement. “Within the next decade, it will seem as strange for a retirement plan to lack guaranteed income options as it would today for a plan to operate without target-date funds. We are not just participating in this transformation—we’re driving it.”
Crothers took over BlackRock’s U.S. retirement unit when then-Head of Retirement Anne Ackerley moved to a senior adviser role in July 2024. During his 18 years at BlackRock, Crothers led development of BlackRock’s target-date CIT product with an embedded fixed deferred annuity and served as head of product, head of strategy, global equity lead and lead business manager.
TIAA also announced that Roger Marinzoli will lead its product development and innovation team.