After firing Andrew Saul as Social Security’s commissioner President Joe Biden chose 40-year-old Kilolo Kijakazi as the new acting commissioner for Social Security. Kijakazi left the Urban Institute in January 2021 to take a position at Social Security where she served as the deputy commissioner for retirement and disability policy. Below is a biography from the Urban Institute about Kijakazi’s achievements prior to becoming acting Social Security commissioner. Kijakazi will serve as acting commissioner until Biden appoints a replacement for Saul and when that appointment is confirmed.
- Kilolo Kijakazi served as an Institute fellow at the Urban Institute. She worked with staff across Urban to develop collaborative partnerships with those most affected by economic and social issues, to expand and strengthen Urban’s agenda of rigorous research, to effectively communicate findings to diverse audiences, and to recruit and retain a diverse research staff at all levels. Kijakazi also conducted research on economic security, structural racism, and the racial wealth gap.
- Previously, Kijakazi was a program officer at the Ford Foundation, focusing on building economic security and incorporating the expertise of people of color into all aspects of the work. She was a senior policy analyst for the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a program analyst for the US Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service, and a policy analyst for the National Urban League.
- Kijakazi’s publications include African-American Economic Development and Small Business Ownership. She is a board member of the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation; the National Academy of Social Insurance, and its Study Panel on Economic Security; The Policy Academies; and Liberation in a Generation. She is a member of the Washington, DC Equitable Recovery Advisory Group, advises the Closing the Women’s Wealth Gap Initiative, is a co-chair of the National Advisory Council on Eliminating the Black-White Wealth Gap, and was a member of the Bipartisan Commission on Retirement Security and Personal Savings. Kijakazi holds a BA from SUNY Binghamton, an MSW from Howard University, and a PhD in public policy from the George Washington University.
