Christopher Wittekind

About Christopher Wittekind

I have experience building and improving digital solutions in the retirement and annuity space. I currently support the Immediate Annuity product at TIAA, where I bridge the gap between end users, product leadership, and developers to deliver solutions that are scalable, strategic, and user-friendly.I lead weekly cross-functional demos, write and manage epics and features, and facilitate backlog planning across multiple initiatives. My background as a former financial advisor gives me a unique ability to connect with internal users and identify high-impact opportunities for simplification and automation.I’ve also owned product rollout and enablement across internal organizations: from managing Workday training to conducting office hours and leading one-on-one coaching to ensure successful adoption.

Experience

1. Director, Product Management

   TIAA

   May 2023 — Present · Charlotte, NC, US

   Led cross-functional product demos in a weekly cadence with stakeholders. Managing agenda setting, meeting facilitation, timekeeping, and follow-up to drive alignment and transparency across business groups- Drove end-to-end feature development by authoring epics and stories, managing backlog prioritization, and collaborating closely with product managers and IT to ensure continuous value delivery- Championed the digitization of legacy processes, playing a central role in transforming complex annuity paperwork into an intelligent, rules-driven digital experience – cutting error rates from 45% to less than 1% and enhancing customer satisfaction- Acted as voice of the user, leveraging financial advisory background to advocate for the needs of front-line associates and end users, directly influencing design decisions and product enhancements- Spearheaded readiness and rollout strategies for product launches across multiple internal organizations, including coordinating access, training completion, and stakeholder engagement- Hosted enablement office hours and 1:1 coaching sessions, fostering adoption, answering usage questions, and ensuring associates were confident leveraging the new digital tools- Collaborated with managing directors and enablement leads to ideate and implement product utilization and deepen organizational understanding of product value- Owned production support and live issue triage, translating real-time feedback into product backlog items and serving as a key bridge between users, the product team, and IT

Education

• Capella University

  Bachelor of Science - BS, Business

• Capella University

  Master of Business Administration - MBA, Business