Nuveen CEO on why corporate awakening on race is no fad

NEW YORK (AP) — Jose Minaya grew up in New York City, the child of immigrants from the Dominican Republic whose biggest involvement with the financial system was a savings account. Now, he’s CEO of Nuveen, the investment arm of TIAA that has more than $1 trillion spread across stocks, real estate and other assets around the world.

As CEO, he's pushing to bring in a more diverse workforce at Nuveen, and he says the great awakening on race companies have undergone over the last year will only continue. He spoke with The Associated Press recently about what it was like to take the CEO job just as the pandemic swept the world and whether he's worried about bubbles in the stock market. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Q: Nuveen has a history of investing with an eye toward the environment, social issues and corporate governance. Now that it's a huge trend sweeping the industry, are you worried some funds may offer “ESG” investments without buying into the ethos?

A: Less and less. The narrative has changed to where people look at climate change and diversity issues, and they see it clearly impacting bottom lines. When you see wildfires and natural disasters, it's easy to see the long list of companies that lost value because of that, and maybe you could have avoided some of those stocks.

Q: After George Floyd's murder, companies are expected to voice their opinions on race and other social issues much more than before. Do you see this being just a fad?

A: This is not a fad. This is a real thing. If anything, the voices are going to get louder. CEOs and leaders are going to have to get better at talking about this.

A lot of us, we are not trained on this. I am a person of color and a leader, and these are not things you talked about on your soapbox. These are not things you engaged with your...