Nearly 100 years ago, Andrew Carnegie established the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association to specifically address the pension needs of educators.

In the early 1950s, more than three decades after TIAA's inception, the CREF was added—the College Retirement Equities Fund, said to be the world's first variable annuity.

From there, TIAA-CREF built itself into one of the country's largest service providers by dominating the 403(b) market, in spite of the fact that the company's name never really seemed to rolled off the tongue that easily.

TIAA owns about 80 percent of the higher education 403(b) market, according to Moslander.

That dominance is explained at least in part by TIAA's ability to listen to sponsors, he said.

"Sponsors want us to engage employees in the plan, so they understand the plan's value," explained Moslander. "The new name sends the message that we can engage people to connect with simple retirement planning."

To that end, the New York-based provider, which oversees more than $850 billion in assets, has done more than change its name.

It's rolling out new mobile and web applications, and new communications strategies for how the company engages participants on the phone and in the worksite, the latter having always been a strong differentiator for TIAA, says Moslander.

"The not-for-profit marketplace is going through the same demographic changes as other areas of the economy," explained Moslander.

Younger employees who have come of age with a mobile device in hand, and more tenured teachers who have had to engage their students via technology in the classroom, require complicated information to be broken down in digestible bits.

"Our participants have always been very accomplished people, but they tend to be passionate about areas of life outside of retirement planning," said Moslander. "They tend not to be as committed to profit as they are to their passion."

He says TIAA's heritage has been to provide products and a service model that account for that reality.

By most retirement success metrics, the company has succeeded.

Participants in TIAA 403(b) plans retire with an average retirement income replacement rate of 90 percent, Moslander noted.

Several factors account for that enviable accomplishment. One, educators, the stock of TIAA participants, tend to be committed to their career paths.

That helps assure a longer duration of participation in a defined contribution plan.

TIAA participants also defer higher percentages of income than counterparts in the private sector; averages tend to be between 9 and 11 percent. Moslander says it is rare to see a deferral rate below 8 percent.

Then there is the annuity component of 403(b) plans. The Investment Company Institute shows variable annuities hold 27 percent of all 403(b) assets, and fixed annuities claim another 26 percent of all 403(b) assets, which are fast approaching $1 trillion.

These days, a growing proportion of plan assets are invested in mutual funds and target date funds, but the core annuitized component of a 403(b) savings strategy helps to neutralize market volatility, and deliver participants a more predictable savings outcome, says Moslander.

That rate of success in 403(b) plans—the "vast majority" of TIAA participants reach at least a 75 percent retirement income replacement rate—has spurred regulators' curiosity, says Moslander, as the private sector grapples with how to more efficiently annuitize some portion of savings in 401(k) plans.

What won't change with TIAA's rebranding is the firm's target customer, as Moslander said the effort in no way signals an intention to deviate from the non-profit sector, even as more for-profit service providers emerge as competitors.

"We are absolutely committed to the same mission," he said.