Clifton R. Wharton Jr.
Former Chairman and CEO,
TIAA-CREF
An original member of the Knight Commission when it issued its first report in 1991, Dr. Clifton Wharton served as co-chairman from May 2006 until May 2007 after serving as vice chairman beginning in February 2005.
Dr. Wharton has been a black pioneer in four different fields — philanthropy, foreign economic development, higher education and business.
Dr. Wharton is the former Chairman and CEO of Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association and College Retirement Equities Fund, the world’s largest pension fund with assets of $260 billion. In this position, he became the first black CEO of a Fortune 500 company. Among his other previous pioneering positions are serving as president of Michigan State University (1970-78), where he served as the first black to head a predominantly white major university; chancellor of the State University of New York System (1978-87), this nation’s largest university system with 64 campuses; and chairman of the Rockefeller Foundation (1982-87).
The son of a career Foreign Service Officer and Ambassador, Dr. Wharton has served six presidents in foreign policy advisory posts and most recently in 1993 was appointed by President Clinton as Deputy Secretary, U.S. Department of State.
Dr. Wharton’s first 22-year philanthropic career began in Latin America with Nelson Rockefeller. Subsequently, he was resident in Southeast Asia from 1958 to 1964 representing a foundation headed by John D. Rockefeller, III. During this period, he also supervised the foundation’s programs in Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, as well as taught economics at the University of Malaya.
At present, he is a trustee of the Clark Foundation, the Bassett Hospital (Cooperstown, NY), and the New York State Historical Association. Among his former directorships are Ford Motor Company, Time-Warner, Equitable Life, Tenneco Inc., Federated Department Stores, Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), New York Stock Exchange, Harcourt General, TIAA-CREF, and Vice Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
He holds a bachelor’s degree with honors in history from Harvard, a master’s from the School of Advanced International Studies of John Hopkins University, a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago, and has been awarded 62 honorary doctorates. In 1994, he received the American Council on Education Distinguished Service Award for Lifetime Achievement and in 1970 was named Boston Latin School Man of the Year.
