Melissa Kivett is Executive Vice President, Corporate Retirement Solutions & Business Development, TIAA. Melissa is a member of the company’s Executive Operating Committee and leads a team at TIAA that’s partnering to expand access to lifetime income to more Americans.

Melissa previously served as an Executive Committee Board Member of the Insured Retirement Institute and Treasurer, founding member of the  Alliance for Lifetime Income, a groundbreaking non-profit, whose mission is to expand retirement security to more Americans.

Melissa held global leadership roles at Fortune 500 financial services companies that have leveraged her financial acumen and strategic creativity. This includes roles as Chief Strategy Officer, Chief Innovation  Officer, head of Investor Relations, head of Business Development and head of Strategic Relationship Management. As the head of Investor Relations, she took her company public – the second largest IPO of the year only to Google, launched a global financial services brand, reimagined and successfully repositioned a portfolio of life, health and property casualty businesses for growth, achieved successful commercialization of innovative new products, forged new innovative partnerships and transformed cultures to be more agile and faster to market, more customer focused including upskilling and digitizing a 200+ marketing organization.

Melissa is commonly cited as a trusted strategist and is a published innovator. Her work has been recognized by Innovation Leader magazine and in multiple best practices studies for being a leading strategist and creative by the Corporate Executive Board and the Insurance Advisory Board. Institutional Investor magazine awarded Melissa as one of the most shareholder-friendly teams in the financial services sector.

Kivett received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Massachusetts and a Master of Business Administration from Columbia Business School. She is an advocate for diversity and inclusion, a member of the Black, Hispanic Women and LGBTQ resource groups. She serves as a coach with the 92nd Street Y Women in Power program and is a member of the Financial Women’s Association and Columbia Women in Business. Melissa was a member of the Board of Directors of Assurant’s European operations and on the Advisory Council for the Investor Relations Roundtable, and the New York Stock Exchange Advisory Group.