Heather Davis is a senior managing director and the Chief Investment Officer of TIAA Global Real Assets for the TIAA organization. Ms. Davis is responsible for strategy, investment originations, portfolio management and board reporting for the organization’s investments in real assets and alternatives sectors including real estate, agriculture, timber, infrastructure and energy, private equity and private debt.

Most recently she was Chief Investment Officer of Private Markets Investments for TIAA. Prior to this position, she served as Head of Global Private Markets Investments and Head of Global Private Markets Portfolio Management where she oversaw the $40 billion global private markets portfolio which included private placements, private equity, distressed investments, commercial mortgages, natural resources and infrastructure investments. While at TIAA, she has been an investor in many sectors within the private asset classes. Ms. Davis joined the organization in 1995 and has 31 years of investment industry experience.

Prior to joining TIAA, Ms. Davis worked for Prudential Financial in a variety of roles including commercial mortgage origination, mortgage underwriting, portfolio management, and credit underwriting. In 2009, Ms. Davis created TIAA’s Fruits of Employment initiative, which employs people with autism and other disabilities on TIAA farms. The Fruits of Employment program has won numerous awards for its groundbreaking work in autism employment in the farming sector. In 2014, Ms. Davis received the Athena International award for Corporate Leadership. Ms. Davis serves on the boards of Westchester Global Investment Management, Radar Propriedades Agricolas, S.A., Churchill Asset Management, the John M. Belk Endowment and the Carolinas Chapter of Autism Speaks.

Ms. Davis holds a B.A. in economics from Cornell University and an M.B.A. in finance from Cornell University, Johnson School of Management. She serves on the Dean’s Advisory Council of the Cornell College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.