Ajit Naidu

Ajit joined TIAA in 2018 and is currently Head of Nuveen Technology & Operations and Global Enterprise Technology Services. His organization includes Nuveen Technology & Operations, Global Corporate Solutions Technology, Global Infrastructure Services and Enterprise Strategy & Data Solutions.

Prior to joining TIAA, Ajit was the founding CEO of MDC Business Management Services, a shared services company for the Mubadala group, which is a strategic investment company for the government of Abu Dhabi. There, he led a program of innovation, change management, automation and resource integration. The services provided included Finance, HR, Technology, Procurement and more. Before that, he was CIO for the Mubadala group, where he led the design and implementation of an award-winning, highly virtualized private cloud data center. This became the foundation for setting up the shared services organization, providing PaaS and SaaS services to more than 30 client organizations and achieving more than 25% in cost efficiencies.

Ajit also spent 12 years at Merrill Lynch, where he was Chief Technology Officer in Global Markets and Investment Banking. Over his tenure he held various roles across debt derivatives, equities, enterprise data and risk. His last role was head of global equities markets and services technology. He led the strategy, implementation and support for global equities including electronic and high-frequency trading and prime brokerage technology, which became billion-dollar businesses. In addition, he managed middle- and back-office technology across equities and fixed-income products, CRM and an institutional e-commerce platform (MLX).

Ajit has more than 25 years of experience in financial services, asset management and investment banking, developing business strategies that drive operational excellence and growth. He has a dynamic blend of talent and expertise, extending from leadership to organizational development and transformation, operational efficiency and excellence, strategic growth and technology advancement. His broad and deep technology background aligns with organizational strategy, including next-gen solutions, to help drive digital transformation, client experience and new products to market.

2020 FutureEdge 50 Honoree