NEW YORK - TIAA-CREF, the financial services organization and leading provider of retirement plans in the academic, medical and cultural fields, has formed a new Social and Community Investing Department within its Asset Management area.

The department will focus on a series of investment programs and oversee the screening methodology used by the CREF Social Choice and the TIAA-CREF Social Choice Equity Funds. In addition, the new department will work on socially responsible investment product development and the formulation of policies around key social issues. The department's investment programs will seek out investment opportunities that are competitively priced and offer broad social appeal.

"The new Social & Community Investing department gives us another way to fulfill our financial commitment to our participants while continuing our leadership in the area of socially responsible investing," said Scott C. Evans, head of TIAA-CREF's Asset Management Division. "Our participants tell us that, after financial returns, social factors are very important in how they make their investment decisions. This department furthers our mission to meet the financial needs of the institutions and individuals we serve, and enables us to expand our offerings in this area."

Effective July 1, 2006, the department - which will report directly to the Chief Investment Officer -- will be headed by TIAA-CREF Managing Director Scott J. Budde and include Amy Muska O'Brien, TIAA-CREF's Director of Social Investing hired in 2005.

Scott Budde brings 12 years of investment experience at TIAA-CREF and 10 additional years experience in banking and financial services consulting to the new department. Budde currently serves on the Capital Markets Advisory Committee of the Grameen Foundation USA - a leading promoter of microfinance investing. He is a graduate of Bowdoin College and the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University.

Amy O'Brien brings over 10 years of social investment research experience with a strong focus on environmental issues. Before joining TIAA-CREF, she was the Director of Corporate Social Responsibility at the United Church of Christ Pension Fund. She is a graduate of Boston College and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. O'Brien recently joined the board of the Social Investment Forum - a national organization promoting the concept, practice and growth of socially responsible investing.

About TIAA-CREF
TIAA-CREF is a national financial services organization with more than $380 billion in combined assets under management (3/31/06) and the leading provider of retirement services in the academic, research, medical and cultural fields. Further information can be found at www.tiaa-cref.org.

About TIAA-CREF Social Choice
Initially developed in the 1980s, CREF Social Choice Account has grown into the world's largest social screened investment fund for individual investors with just over $8 billion in assets (03/31/06).

TIAA-CREF Individual & Institutional Services, LLC, and Teachers Personal Investors Services, Inc., distribute securities products

TIAA-CREF

TIAA-CREF

TIAA-CREF is a national financial services organization with more than $380 billion in combined assets under management (6/30/06) and the leading provider of retirement services in the academic, research, medical and cultural fields.

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