LEADING THE INDUSTRY | Kirsten Curry started Leading Retirement Solutions on a core principle: everybody deserves access to investment options such as 401ks. With the cannabis industry being shunned by many in the financial services sector, her mission has become even more important today.
As the founder and CEO of Leading Retirement Solutions, Kirsten Curry not only lives the life of an entrepreneur, but she also spends much of her time working closely with other business owners, comparing and contrasting their journeys and the obstacles they’ve had to overcome.
It’s given her a unique perspective on how entrepreneurs became adept at handling the most daunting of challenges.
“I often say building this enterprise is like pushing a boulder uphill every day,” she says, “and, yet, I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I feel like I’m having the most incredible experience. Building a business enterprise is fascinating to me, and it’s something that I’m passionate about and I love.”
Curry is also extremely passionate about retirement savings plans, something she freely admits is not inherently exciting. Her passion starts with the core belief that every person should have access to investment options such as a 401k.
Leading Retirement Solutions is a retirement plan provider that has worked with thousands of businesses over the years to offer their employees access to investment options. The company, which currently has clients in 49 states, according to Curry, made the prestigious Inc. 5000 list in 2025 for the fastest growing privately held companies in the United States, achieving a growth rate of 61% over the past three years. It’s also one of the few 401k providers that openly provides services to the cannabis industry — an industry that has been completely excluded from working with the most well-known financial services providers in the country.
Leading Retirement Solutions took on its first cannabis client more than a decade ago and has continued to service the industry, developing specific protocols for cannabis to ensure compliance.
“One of the reasons we stay committed to the cannabis industry is because all Americans should have access to retirement savings, and the cannabis industry has largely been denied that access,” Curry says. “We’ve long been a very solutions-oriented company: How can we help entrepreneurs do this? We’re supporting all different kinds of cannabis-touching enterprises, including some of the largest cannabis enterprises in the country, and they need reliability. They need to know their employees that are participating in these 401k plans can rely on those plans and that their money is going to be kept safe.”
Curry always knew she would be an entrepreneur.
From a young age, she witnessed Alaska’s commercial fishing industry first-hand, giving her an early glimpse into the trials and tribulations of independent business owners. After law school, she began helping clients with a wide range of business-related needs, from mergers and acquisitions to forming LLCs. Through her work as an attorney, she developed an interest in retirement planning, as well as a deep appreciation for the compliance requirements of an industry regulated by multiple federal agencies. Fifteen years ago, she started Leading Retirement Solutions, a business that benefits tremendously from Curry’s legal background and fulfills the CEO’s lifelong dream of running her own business.
The company now has about 45 employees across the country, a core group of individuals who have remained remarkably committed to its mission, Curry says.
“I couldn’t do this by myself,” she adds. “Nor would I want to.”