Kilolo Kijakazi is a nonresident fellow in the Family and Financial Well-Being Division at the Urban Institute, focusing on wealth building and retirement security, including labor market barriers during work lives and into senior years.

Previously, she was the senior principal adviser to the commissioner of the Social Security Administration (SSA) (2024), acting commissioner for SSA (2021–23), and deputy commissioner of retirement and disability policy for SSA (2021). She managed 60,000 employees, the resumption of walk-in visitors to more than 1,200 field offices postpandemic, the hiring of a record 8,000 employees in 2023, and the expansion of research staffing, grantees, and content.

From 2014 to 2021, Kijakazi was an Institute fellow at Urban, where she developed collaborative partnerships to expand and strengthen Urban’s rigorous research agenda, expand audiences, and recruit and retain research staff at all levels with a range of expertise and backgrounds. She also conducted research on economic security, structural racism, and the racial wealth gap. Previously, she was a program officer for the Ford Foundation and funded research on the racial wealth gap.

Kijakazi received the 2021 National Academy of Social Insurance’s Robert M. Ball Award and was honored with an internship program named after her. She also received the Distinguished Public Service Award from the George Washington University in 2019. 

She holds a BA from the State University of New York at Binghamton, an MSW from Howard University, and a PhD in public policy from the George Washington University.