receives a
variety of confidential information (including portfolio holdings) in order to
process, account for and safe keep the Funds assets.
The
entities to which the Funds voluntarily disclose portfolio holdings information
are required, either by explicit agreement or by virtue of their respective
duties to the Funds, to maintain the confidentiality of the information
disclosed. There can be no assurance that the Funds policies and procedures
regarding selective disclosure of the Funds holdings will protect the Funds
from potential misuse of that information by individuals or entities to which
it is disclosed.
The
Funds send summaries of their portfolio holdings to shareholders semiannually
as part of the Funds annual and semiannual reports. Full portfolio holdings
are also filed with the SEC and can be accessed from the SECs website at
www.sec.gov approximately 60 days after the end of each quarter (through Forms
N-CSR and N-Q) and five business days after the end of each month for the Money
Market Fund (through Form N-MFP). You can request more frequent portfolio holdings
information, subject to the Funds policy as stated above, by writing to the
Funds at TIAA-CREF Funds, P.O. Box 4674, New York, NY 10164.
In
addition, Advisors has adopted a policy regarding distribution of portfolio
attribution analyses and related data and commentary (Portfolio Data). This
policy permits Advisors and/or Teachers Personal Investor Services, Inc.
(TPIS), a broker-dealer affiliated with Advisors, to provide oral or written
information about the Funds, including, but not limited to, how each Funds
investments are divided among: various sectors; industries; countries; value
and growth stocks; small-, mid- and large-cap stocks; and various asset classes
such as stocks, bonds, currencies and cash; as well as types of bonds, bond maturities,
bond coupons and bond credit quality ratings. Portfolio Data may also include
information on how these various weightings and factors contributed to Fund
performance including the attribution of a Funds return by asset class,
sector, industry and country. Portfolio Data may also include various financial
characteristics of a Fund or its underlying portfolio securities, including,
but not limited to, alpha, beta, R-squared, duration, maturity, information
ratio, Sharpe ratio, earnings growth, pay-out ratio, price/book value,
projected earnings growth, return on equity, standard deviation, tracking
error, weighted average quality, market capitalization, percent debt to equity,
price to cash flow, dividend yield or growth, default rate, portfolio turnover
and risk and style characteristics.
Portfolio
Data may be based on a Funds most recent quarter-end portfolio, month-end
portfolio or some other interim period. Portfolio Data may be provided to
members of the press, participants in the Fund, persons considering investing
in the Fund, or representatives of such participants or potential participants,
such as consultants, financial intermediaries, fiduciaries of a 401(k) plan or
a trust and their advisers and rating and ranking organizations. While Advisors
and/or Services will provide Portfolio Data to persons upon appropriate
request, the content and nature of the information provided to any person or
category of persons may differ. Please contact TIAA-CREF for information about
obtaining Portfolio Data. Advisors and/or Services may restrict access to any
or all Portfolio Data in its sole discretion, including, but not limited to, if
Advisors and/or Services believes the release of such Portfolio Data may be
harmful to the Fund.
M
ANAGEMENT OF THE TRUST
THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES
The
Trust is governed by its Board, which oversees the Trusts business and
affairs. The Board delegates the day-to-day management of the Funds to Advisors
and the officers of the Trust (see below).
Board
Leadership Structure and Related Matters
The
Board is composed of ten trustees, all of whom are independent or
disinterested, which means that they are not interested persons of the Funds
as defined in Section 2(a)(19) of the 1940 Act (independent trustees). One of
the independent trustees, Howell E. Jackson, serves as the Chairman of the
Board. The Chairmans responsibilities include: coordinating with management in
the preparation of the agenda for each meeting of the Board; presiding at all
meetings of the Board; and serving as a liaison with other Trustees, the
Trusts officers and other management personnel, and counsel to the Independent
Trustees. The Chairman performs such other duties as the Board may from time to
time determine. The Principal Executive Officer of the Trust does not serve on
the Board.
The
Board meets periodically to review, among other matters, the Funds activities,
contractual arrangements with companies that provide services to the Funds and
the performance of the Funds investment portfolios. The Board holds regularly
scheduled in-person meetings and regularly scheduled meetings by telephone each
year and may hold special meetings, as needed, either in person or by
telephone, to address matters arising between regular meetings. During a
portion of each regularly scheduled in-person meeting and, as the Board may
determine, at its other meetings, the Board meets without management present.
The
Board has established a committee structure that includes six standing
committees, each composed solely of independent trustees and chaired by an
independent trustee, as described below. The Board, with the assistance of its
Nominating and Governance Committee, periodically evaluates its structure and
composition as well as various aspects of its operations. The Board believes
that its leadership and operating structure, which includes its committees and
having an independent trustee in the position of Chairman of the Board and of
each committee, provides for independent oversight of management and is
appropriate for the Trust in light of, among other factors, the asset size and
nature of the Trust and the Funds, the number of Funds overseen by the Board,
the number of other funds overseen by the trustees as the trustees of other
investment companies in the TIAA-CREF Fund Complex, the arrangements for the
conduct of the Funds operations, the number of trustees, and the Boards
responsibilities.
The
Trust is part of the TIAA-CREF Fund Complex, which is composed of the 59 funds
within the Trust (including the TIAA-CREF Lifecycle Funds, TIAA-CREF Lifecycle
Index Funds and TIAA-CREF Lifestyle Funds), the 10 series of TCLF, the 8
Accounts within CREF and the single portfolio within VA-1. The same persons who
constitute the Board also constitute, and Prof. Jackson also serves as the
Chairman of, the respective boards of trustees of CREF and TCLF and the
Management Committee of VA-1.