America's retirement crisis

Free and open to the public. Join the conversation on Twitter: #policytalks Lecture by Roger Ferguson, president and chief executive officer of TIAA-CREF.

About the lecture Despite our sluggish economy and the global economic uncertainty, building lifelong financial security is not a pipe dream in 21st century America. But for most Americans, it's become a do-it-yourself proposition, as a result of the decline of traditional pension plans in the private sector. This is a concern given the general lack of financial literacy among our population. That fact, combined with continuing economic challenges and demographic changes around aging, has given rise to a great deal of angst around the issue of retirement. TIAA-CREF's CEO Roger Ferguson will look at the current retirement landscape, discuss how it has changed over time, and consider some of the challenges we now face as a nation in funding retirement. He will address the need to rethink, repair, and restart America's retirement system – while outlining what individuals can do to better ensure their own lifelong financial security in the current environment.

From the speaker's bio Roger W. Ferguson, Jr., is president and chief executive officer of TIAA-CREF, the leading provider of retirement services in the academic, research, medical, and cultural fields and a Fortune 100 financial services organization. Mr. Ferguson served as vice chairman of the Board of Governors of the U.S. Federal Reserve System. He was a voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee, served as chairman of the Financial Stability Forum, and chaired Federal Reserve Board committees on banking supervision and regulation, payment system policy, and reserve bank oversight. Prior to joining TIAA-CREF in April 2008, Mr. Ferguson was head of financial services for Swiss Re, chairman of Swiss Re America Holding Corporation, and a member of the company's executive committee. From 1984 to 1997, he was an associate and partner at McKinsey & Company. He began his career as an attorney at the New York City office of Davis Polk & Wardwell. Mr. Ferguson is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences and a member of the Academy's Commission on the Humanities and Social Sciences. He is a member of President Obama's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness and served on its predecessor, the Economic Recovery Advisory Board. Mr. Ferguson is co-chair of the Committee on Economic Development, and he serves on the Board of Directors of International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. and Audax Health, as well as the boards of several nonprofit organizations, including the Institute for Advanced Study and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. He is a member of the Advisory Board of Brevan Howard Asset Management LLP and serves as co-chair of the National Academy of Sciences' Committee on the Long-Run Macro-Economic Effects of the Aging U.S. Population. He is chairman of the Economic Club of New York and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Harvard University Visiting Committee for the Memorial Church, and the Group of Thirty. Mr. Ferguson holds a BA, JD, and a PhD in economics, all from Harvard University.

• finance reform