The Alameda County Employees’ Retirement Association (ACERA) Board of Retirement has unanimously selected Dave Nelsen as ACERA’s new Chief Executive Officer (CEO). ACERA is the pension plan for county-level public employees of Alameda County, California, and provides retirement and related benefits to 21,000 members.

Mr. Nelsen was selected from a field of well-qualified candidates after an extensive nationwide search. He will begin his post with ACERA in April 2016 and will oversee ACERA’s $6.5 billion pension fund and a staff of 100. He will be assuming the role from ACERA’s Assistant CEO, Kathy Foster, who has served as Interim CEO since February 2015, and to whom the Board of Retirement wishes to extend profound thanks for adeptly administering the retirement system during the CEO vacancy period.

Mr. Nelsen has over 20 years’ experience in public pension administration, finance, and policy, serving in various executive and staff roles for the State of Washington’s Office of the State Actuary and the Washington State Department of Retirement Systems—a state agency administering eight retirement systems with 470,000 members and $70 billion in pension trust funds.

Mr. Nelsen is transitioning from his current position serving as the Assistant Director for Customer and Policy Services at the Washington State Department of Retirement Systems where he leads over 100 team members in providing direct customer service, as well as overseeing the legal and legislative activities of the agency. He has also served as Legal and Legislative Services Manager, Senior Pension Policy Analyst, Assistant Director for Retirement Services, and CFO.

Mr. Nelsen received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of the State of New York.