DCIIA Appoints Katie Selenski as Strategy, Research Lead

Katie Selenski

The Defined Contribution Institutional Investment Association appointed Katie Selenski to dual roles as chief strategy officer and executive director of its Retirement Research Center, according to a company release issued Thursday.

Selenski has served as a senior adviser to DCIIA for the last two years, prior to her most recent appointment.

She will lead DCIIA’s research initiatives and strategic partnerships, focusing on the Workers’ Wealth Lab. This project, a collaboration between DCIIA and the Aspen Institute that is supported by insights from Morningstar, aims to analyze the factors behind wealth disparities in the U.S. retirement system and explore market and policy-driven solutions.

Selenski has more than 20 years of experience in pensions, retirement savings policy and organizational management. From 2017 to 2023, she served as the inaugural executive director of the CalSavers Retirement Savings Board, which launched and runs the state-sponsored program providing retirement benefits to private sector employees who otherwise have to access to qualified retirement savings. As of July 31, CalSavers had $1.36 billion in assets, making it the largest such program in the U.S.

Her other previous experience includes serving as state policy director for pension policy at the Pew Charitable Trusts and working as a public sector management consultant with Harvey M. Rose Associates.

In addition to her new position with DCIIA, Selenski was recently appointed by California Governor Gavin Newsom to the California Commission on Aging.

Selenski earned a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Chicago and a master’s of public policy degree from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.