Wednesday, September 17, 2025
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Former General Treasurer Gina Raimondo PHOTO: GoLocal
Rhode Island General Treasurer James Diossa has named a former top staffer to Gina Raimondo to oversee the state’s pension fund.
In his press release, Diossa failed to mention that his new hire – Andrew Roos – was on Raimondo’s staff when she was General Treasurer.
Roos helped Raimondo implement her pension reform program, a strategy that cut the cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) benefits to tens of thousands of teachers and state workers.
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Raimondo, as then-Rhode Island General Treasurer, had announced Roos as her chief of staff in 2013; he served nearly two years in the office.
He then continued to work for Seth Magaziner as chief of staff in the Treasurer’s office, but only lasted nine months, and then headed to Google as “head of industry – election.”
Diossa’s press release omitted Roos’ history with Raimondo; it only states:
Rhode Island General Treasurer James A. Diossa and the Employees’ Retirement System of Rhode Island announced Andrew Roos as the system’s new Executive Director. Roos will oversee a statewide retirement system that serves more than sixty thousand active and retired Rhode Island state and municipal employees. Roos fills the vacancy left by Frank Karpinski, who retired in June after nearly three decades of service.
Before joining ERSRI, Roos was a strategic communications consultant and principal at GPS Impact, served as Chief of Staff to two previous Rhode Island General Treasurers, and held progressive leadership positions at Google, including Head of Industry for U.S. Elections. During his tenure at Treasury, Roos worked closely with Director Karpinski on critical initiatives, including federal mediation of the Rhode Island Retirement Security Act settlement and accounting and information systems implementation at ERSRI.
“We are pleased to welcome Andrew and confident that he will provide the vision and leadership needed to serve ERSRI members and all Rhode Islanders with excellence. He has the skills and experience required for success in this role. I look forward to working with him and the ERSRI board to continue the system’s reputation for excellence,” said Diossa.
Roos is a resident of East Greenwich, where he lives with his wife and daughter. He holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from the University of Notre Dame and pursued a doctorate in Philosophy at Brown University.
“I’m humbled by the confidence the members of the board showed in voting to support me as the next Executive Director of the Employees Retirement System of Rhode Island. It is an honor to return to public service for the next stage of my career and to have the opportunity to work with the great employees at ERSRI and partner closely with the General Treasurer’s office to make sure we are providing the best, most transparent and responsive experience to our partners that is possible,” said Andrew Roos.
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