How Katie Grissom’s Early Finance Lessons Paved the Way to Global Retail Leadership at Nuveen Real Estate

Early Lessons in Finance — and a Curiosity About Consumers — Set the Foundation

Katie Grissom’s role as global head of retail investment for Nuveen Real Estate wouldn’t shock anyone who knew her growing up. Her father, whom she characterized as entrepreneurial, routinely gathered Grissom and her sister Saturdays to teach finance. Among discussions on the weighted average cost of capital, returns basics and other topics, the daughters were asked to evaluate real businesses, debate their merits and decide whether to invest portions of their weekly allowances in individual stocks. “At the time, I didn’t fully appreciate what he was teaching us but looking back, those conversations fundamentally shaped how I think about risk, value and long term decision making,” recalled Grissom, who has just been named an ICSC 4 Under 40 honoree. “When I finally got to college, I knew I wanted to study finance, and it was because those ideas had been planted early, long before I realized it.”

Finding Her Footing at the Intersection of Brands, Consumers and Growth

During her first year at South Carolina’s Wofford College, she initially imagined a career in investment banking. That direction shifted after a summer internship exposed her to market-driven investing where decisions were rooted in technical signals, price patterns and chart-based analysis. It was abstract and removed from the real economy she experienced daily. That summer was pivotal though, as she was exposed to behavioral economics and the idea that markets are influenced by human psychology. “I became more interested in why people make decisions than in reading charts,” she said. “Understanding consumer behavior felt tangible, relevant and enduring.”

She became interested in the intersection of brands, consumers and growth. After earning degrees in finance and Spanish and a minor in economics, Grissom joined a private equity-backed consumer platform, where she worked alongside management teams to scale a national fitness brand. In addition to strategic initiatives, Grissom was deeply involved in day-to-day operations and was accountable for sales performance and profitability across the portfolio.  

She collaborated closely with the firm’s other wellness-oriented portfolio companies. “I had this insatiable need to understand the consumer,” Grissom said. “I was always very intrigued by psychology and why people behave the way they do. A lot of that is connected to retail real estate in a way that I don’t think many investors appreciate.”

Grissom’s business acumen quickly caught the attention of Michelle Kluz, now CEO of cosmetics company Stila. Kluz had become CEO of Pure Barre in 2016 while Grissom was working on the brand. During a conference call on her first day, Kluz realized the brand had a lot of opportunities and began seeking out voices with insight. She heard Grissom talk about what Pure Barre should be doing to evolve along with its consumer and noted her articulate and clear perspective, especially for someone in their mid-20s. “I hadn’t met Katie yet, but I was already impressed,” recalled Kluz. “I thought: ‘How could somebody this age be so senior with a team reporting to her?’ It’s because she’s decisive and smart but doesn’t have a huge ego and she really listens. I told her that someday I’d probably end up working for her and that I’d happily do so.”

Discovering Retail Real Estate — and the Power of Place

Grissom’s private equity experience in the retail sector also introduced her to ICSC. She attended her first premier ICSC Las Vegas event in 2013 and grasped that the emphasis on dealmaking and networking with peer brands differentiated it from other conferences serving private equity professionals. That experience and attending other ICSC events piqued Grissom’s interest in the real estate side of the business. When a colleague pitched a job to oversee retailer recruitment for retail real estate investor Asana Partners, which wanted to create value in near-urban neighborhoods to cater to the growing Millennial consumer base, she welcomed the opportunity. “I liked the idea of working for a company that was approaching what I had been doing from the opposite end: to find the demographics that retailers were looking for and create places where consumers would want to spend time,” she said. “I built a leasing business through the lens of retailers, and we had a lot of success.”

Grissom eventually participated in capital-raising initiatives at Asana Partners, and she earned a Master of Business Administration from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 18 months while continuing to work. About midway through 2021, Nuveen started recruiting her, but she kept the suitor on the stoop at first, thinking that a buttoned-up corporate environment might restrict her preference to move fast and unconventionally. In November 2022, however, she accepted a job there as head of retail and mixed-use in the Americas, and her concerns dissipated immediately.

Refining Strategy at Scale at Nuveen Real Estate

Nuveen oversees $1.4 trillion globally across a range of asset classes for its clients, including its parent, TIAA. Of its $139 billion in real estate assets under management, approximately $20 billion is invested in retail properties. When she joined the company, the retail portfolio was dispersed across a range of products — shopping centers, malls and grocery-anchored centers, to name a few — in general and limited partnership structures.  

Grissom saw an opportunity to concentrate the firm’s strategies, which led to the growth of two new funds, in addition to continuing managing capital for existing investors. One is buying grocery-anchored centers, and as of early December, it was expected to soon double its current gross asset value of $400 million. The other is a $1 billion vehicle targeting assets with a bit more growth in neighborhoods with strong employment and residential bases. “I thought that if we were going to be the best, we couldn’t be everything to everyone,” explained Grissom. “We focus our strategy on the consumer and consumer demographics in terms of where the puck is going. For me, the obsession with the consumer is the common thread of my career.”

Expanding Her Platform at Nuveen and Across ICSC

In June, Nuveen promoted Grissom to manage its retail and mixed-use portfolio and strategies globally. As her career has advanced, so too has her involvement in ICSC. She has helped plan ICSC@CAROLINAS events, regularly attends Las Vegas and New York shows and sponsored Wofford College becoming an ICSC University Partner. More broadly, she encourages Nuveen’s relatively young and more seasoned team members to attend events to network, meet retailers, participate on panels and source deals. ICSC national and regional events are ideal settings for Nuveen to showcase its refreshed investment strategies and connect with retailers nationally, Grissom said.

Leadership Beyond the Office

In addition to her day job, Grissom serves on the board of the Barcelona Wine Bar, a private equity-owned restaurant concept with locations in 12 states, and is a strategic adviser for women’s e-commerce lifestyle brand Ookioh. Grissom also continues to follow a custom that she started in middle school: contributing to crowdfunded microloans to unbanked retail entrepreneurs through Kiva, a nonprofit that partners with microfinance institutions to disburse loans to borrowers in underserved communities around the world. And more locally, she supports the Alexander Youth Network, an organization that provides mental and behavioral health care to children in North Carolina.

Among Grissom’s favorite activities are exploring neighborhoods on foot and hanging out in coffee shops and bakeries. The latter takes her back to high school and college days, when she was a professional cake decorator. Given Grissom’s fascination with consumer behavior and real estate’s impact on communities, it’s only natural that she reads faces and body language as she explores, especially at properties she has had a hand in creating. “I love seeing people enjoying our properties,” she said. “It means that we did a good job merchandising for the community. I think that’s what has really drawn me to retail and real estate.”