TIAA-CREF Partners with the Arbor Day Foundation to Promote e-Delivery and Support Reforestation

Business Wire, Dec 10, 2007

NEW YORK -- TIAA-CREF, the financial services organization and leading provider of retirement services in the academic, medical, and cultural fields, today announced a new partnership with the Arbor Day Foundation to help replant America's national forests.

The partnership launches a new program called "Plant a Tree," aimed at encouraging clients to receive e-delivery of their Quarterly Review statements in lieu of paper copies. For every individual who elects to move to e-delivery, TIAA-CREF will donate one dollar to the Arbor Day Foundation. The Foundation will in turn plant a tree in a national forest, encouraging growth in areas that have been damaged by wildfires and other natural causes.

"As a mission driven organization, we are thrilled to partner with the Arbor Day Foundation," said Jamie DePeau, Senior Vice President of Marketing for TIAA-CREF. "We are not only encouraging the re-growth of our national forests, but preserving trees by not printing prospectuses on paper going forward."

Beginning the first week of December 2007, TIAA-CREF clients will receive a notice in the mail - printed on 100% recycled paper - offering them the opportunity to begin receiving their quarterly statements through e-delivery. This mailing will be followed up by emails directing clients to a landing page, www.tiaa-cref.org/plantatree, where they can securely sign up to receive their statement as well as many other items via email. This offer will be displayed on the organization's public website as well.

"The trees planted through this generous partnership with TIAA-CREF will help fill a great need in our national forests and will impact the environment in a positive way," said John Rosenow, chief executive of the Arbor Day Foundation. "Trees provide habitat for wildlife, clean the air we breathe, protect our waterways and help restore beauty in our national forests."

"We know that the environment is a top-concern for many of our clients and to TIAA-CREF," continued DePeau. "We are excited to work with the Arbor Day Foundation on this initiative that supports the interests of our clients and helps negate the effects of climate change, while providing the added convenience of e-delivery-to interested clients. Further, e-delivery will save on printing and mailing costs that can be reinvested to the benefit of our clients."

According to the National Forrest Foundation, roughly 80 percent of the nation's freshwater resources originate on forests. In 1999 the EPA estimated that 3,400 public drinking water systems are located in watersheds containing National Forest lands-about 60 million people live in these 3,400 communities

In addition to the e-delivery initiative and partnership with the Arbor Day Foundation, TIAA-CREF has implemented other environmentally friendly initiatives including:

* An energy-benchmarking program based on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's EnergyStar program across its real estate portfolio. Through this program, TIAA-CREF has evaluated the energy usage of each of its properties across the United States in order to identify viable strategies to reduce the energy intensity of properties its portfolio. The program will serve to lessen the organization's impact on the environment as well as save energy costs and in turn help to increase returns on investments for the benefit if its clients.

* TIAA-CREF will seek the U.S. Green Building Council's (USGBC) LEED certification for [two] new properties being developed this year in Minneapolis, Minnesota and Miami, Florida. LEED is a benchmark for the design, construction and operation of "green" buildings. By developing projects to LEED status, they will be able to take advantage of the latest in environmentally sound construction and management and have a minimally invasive environmental impact on their surrounding communities.

About TIAA-CREF

TIAA-CREF is a national financial services organization and the leading provider of retirement services in the academic, research, medical and cultural fields with more than $437 billion in combined assets under management (9/30/07). To learn more about TIAA-CREF, please visit: http://www.tiaa-cref.org.

About The Arbor Day Foundation

The Arbor Day Foundation is a nonprofit, environmental education organization of nearly one million members, with a mission to inspire people to plant, nurture, and celebrate trees. More information on the Foundation and its programs can be found at arborday.org.