California Teachers Association Economic Benefits Trust

Investment oversight sits with trustees who are elected CTA officers — currently President David Goldberg, Vice President Leslie Littman, and Secretary-Treasurer Erika Jones. The trust does not maintain a dedicated internal investment staff; it operates through external fund managers and co-investment multi-manager arrangements. BeneSys serves as the third-party plan administrator.

CalSTRS operates under an independent board with fiduciary duties defined by the California Constitution and statute. The CTA Economic Benefits Trust's trustees are union officers whose primary role is CTA leadership. This embeds the trust's investment decisions within the union's governance structure, while CalSTRS functions as a constitutionally separate entity with a broader beneficiary base and professional investment staff.

The trust's strategy encompasses both fund-of-funds commitments and co-investments alongside its external managers. It does not appear to maintain a direct-investment team that originates deals independently. The co-investment multi-manager designation in public records indicates the trust participates alongside GPs it already backs rather than sourcing proprietary deals.

Public records indicate the trust's strategy covers the full venture lifecycle — seed, startup, and early-stage through expansion and late-stage — plus buyout, growth equity, mezzanine, special situations, and turnaround situations. This suggests a broad mandate rather than a concentrated stage focus, executed through external manager relationships.

The trust is one of several CTA-governed pools. The CTA also maintains the Economic Benefits Trust Assets fund, the Disaster Relief Fund, the Foundation for Teaching and Learning, and the Institute for Teaching. Each has a distinct purpose — the benefits trust handles retirement and welfare benefits, while the foundation and institute focus on charitable and educational programming.

BeneSys, a third-party benefits administrator, handles the plan's operational administration. Carole Anne Luckenbach serves as the trust's Plan Administrator and Risk Management Manager, functioning as the internal point of contact for plan operations alongside BeneSys.

Given its governance by CTA officers and the union's public policy positions, the trust likely incorporates labor-aligned and ESG considerations into manager selection and proxy voting, though no formal policy documents are publicly available from the trust itself. The CTA has historically advocated for responsible contractor policies and social considerations in public pension management.