Friday, September 19, 2025
On Wednesday, Rhode Island General Treasurer James Diossa announced the appointment of Andrew Roos to serve as the executive director of the Employees’ Retirement System of Rhode Island.
Roos has held a number of jobs in recent years — as GoLocal reported Wednesday night — Roos was then-General Treasurer Gina Raimondo’s chief of staff for nearly two years and then Seth Magaziner’s top staffer for about 9 months. While working for Raimondo, Roos oversaw the implementation of “pension reform.”
But, after a short run working for Google, Roos for the past seven years, has been a political consultant. He has served as a principal for GPSImpact — an Iowa-based firm.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE — SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST
One of Roos’ major candidates was James Diossa.
The same Diossa who just named him to serve as the head of the pension fund.
How large a client was Diossa for Roos
According to Rhode Island campaign finance reports filed by the Diossa campaign, Roos and his GPSImpact firm were paid just under $500,000 for “consulting and professional services” and “advertising.”
All of the payments were made in the 2022 election cycle when Diossa jumped from being the former Mayor of Central Falls to the man overseeing a multi-billion-dollar retirement fund.
Roos has been active in Rhode Island politics and campaigns for years and is a significant donor himself — giving more than $10,000 to a range of Democratic candidates from former House Speakers Gordon Fox and Nick Mattiello to Diossa.
He has also given thousands in donations to now-Congressman Magaziner and has been paid hundreds of thousands in fees for consulting from Magaziner’s campaign.
Diossa Office Refuses to Provide List of Other Finalists
Diossa’s spokesperson, Carla Solo, refused GoLocal’s request for the names of the other finalists to lead the Retirement System. He was approved by the ERSRI board by a vote of 5-0.
“Because this search was done under executive session, the information you’re requesting is not available for public knowledge,” said Rojo.
What is perplexing is Roos’ credentials to lead the retirement board.
According to his resume, he has spent nearly all of his career as a political consultant or staffer.
Diossa Refuses to Respond to Questions
GoLocal called and texted Diossa, requesting comment on the appropriateness of appointing his political consultant to oversee the retirement board, and to answer questions about how Roos’ professional experience as a campaign staffer qualifies him to oversee a $12 billion retirement fund.
Roos has an undergraduate degree from Notre Dame and a graduate degree from Brown University, both in philosophy.
In contrast, in Massachusetts, Kathryn Kougias is the Executive Director of the Massachusetts State Retirement Board. She was appointed to the position by State Treasurer Deb Goldberg after serving as the Board’s Interim Executive Director in early 2023 and previously as the Board’s Finance Director since 2018. Before joining the Retirement Board, Kougias spent five years as Town Treasurer and Assistant Treasurer for a local Massachusetts municipality. She possesses nearly 20 years of management experience in the retirement industry, holding roles at State Street Global Advisors, CitiStreet, and ING, where she focused on retirement services for Defined Contribution, Profit Sharing, and 401(k) plans, according to her bio.
GoLocal was unsuccessful in reaching Roos for comment for this report.
Related Articles
Enjoy this post? Share it with others.