Nadir Settles Departs Nuveen Real Estate After 15 Years

Nadir Settles has left Nuveen Real Estate after nearly 15 years scaling its assets under management. 

Settles, who has spent the last four and a half years as Nuveen’s global head of impact investing, announced in a LinkedIn post Saturday he was leaving the investment manager for an undisclosed new role. His tenure at Nuveen Real Estate dates back to 2011 when he arrived at TIAA prior to it acquiring the Nuveen investments in 2015. 

“Transitions carry a mix of gratitude, curiosity, and renewed purpose — and I’m embracing all three,” Settles wrote in his post. “Stay tuned for updates on my next steps.”

Settles’ departure from Nuveen comes five months after a memo was sent by Chad Phillips, global head of real estate announcing its U.S. impact and affordable housing teams would join forces under an entity. The memo announced that Pamela West would be leading impact and affordable housing investments and strategies reporting to Michael Hunter, global head of housing and alternatives.

Settles credited Mike Sales, CEO of Nuveen Real Assets, and Chris McGibbon, global head of real estate at Nuveen, with providing mentorship over the past few years. He noted that the duo gave him leadership on key initiatives such as building a real estate platform within a target date fund, developing the Nuveen Global Cities REIT and growing Nuveen’s affordable housing platform.

A regular honoree on Commercial Observer’s Power 100 list, Settles has helped scale Nuveen’s real estate to $139 billion of assets under management as of Sept. 30, 2025.  The firm announced last week the final close of its U.S. Strategic Debt Fund, with $650 million in total equity commitments.

Nuveen and Settles did not immediately return requests for comment.

Andrew Coen can be reached at acoen@commercialobserver.com.