Stephen L. Brown

Stephen L. Brown serves as Senior Director of Corporate Governance and Associate General Counsel for TIAA-CREF, a full-service financial services group of companies with over $500 billion assets under management.

 On behalf of the boards of the TIAA-CREF group of companies, Mr. Brown and his colleagues in the Corporate Governance Group work to enhance the governance of companies held within TIAA-CREF's investment portfolios with the objective of increasing shareholder value and improving long term performance of targeted companies. Additionally, Mr. Brown advises management and the boards of the TIAA-CREF group of companies on internal corporate governance matters.

Since 2011, Mr. Brown has been named by the National Association of Corporate Directors as one of the 100 most influential people in corporate governance and the boardroom. In 2009, Mr. Brown was named as one of 10 global Rising Stars of Corporate Governance by the Yale School of Management's Millstein Center for Corporate Governance and Performance.

Prior to joining TIAA-CREF, Mr. Brown practiced corporate and securities law with Wilmer, Cutler, Pickering, Hale and Dorr, LLP and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom, LLP in New York City. At both firms, Mr. Brown represented industrial companies, investment advisers, hedge funds, private equity funds, and mutual fund complexes. Additionally, he represented Fortune 500 corporations, boards of directors and executives in a variety of securities enforcement matters and corporate internal investigations.  Prior to practicing law, Mr. Brown was a financial analyst with Goldman Sachs.

Mr. Brown is an adjunct professor at Yale University and City College of New York. Mr. Brown's pro bono practice has included advising several education related public entities and economic development organizations.  He has served on the boards of the Englewood, N.J. public schools, Queens Economic Development Corporation, Harlem Renaissance Economic Development Corporation and the Public Interest Law Foundation at Columbia University Law School. Mr. Brown received his B.A. from Yale University and his J.D. from Columbia University Law School where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar and an Olin Law & Economics Junior Fellow.