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Collins Pine Company Retirement Plan
The Collins Pine Company Retirement Plan provides defined-benefit pensions to the employees of Collins, a privately held forest-products firm headquartered in...
Collins Pine Company Retirement Plan
The Collins Pine Company Retirement Plan provides defined-benefit pensions to the employees of Collins, a privately held forest-products firm headquartered in Wilsonville, Oregon. The Collins family has stewarded the company since 1855, and sixth-generation descendants Cherida Collins Smith and Truman Wesley Collins Jr. continue to govern its operations and related philanthropic vehicles. The plan's companion 401k vehicle, The Collins Companies Defined Contribution Plan, is administered by Milliman and held approximately $47.4 million in total assets as of 2019. Asset-class detail is not publicly disclosed, but the plan's linkage to Collins Pine suggests a conservative, income-oriented posture common to mature single-sponsor pension plans. The sponsor operates substantial timberland holdings — including the Collins Almanor Forest in California, the Collins Pennsylvania Forest in McKean County, and the Collins Lakeview Forest in Oregon — along with the Chester Sawmill in Chester, California. These operating assets generate the cash flows that ultimately fund the retirement obligations. Collins was also the first private forestland owner in the United States to earn Forest Stewardship Council certification, a structural commitment that influences long-term land valuation and harvest planning. The plan's $47 million scale places it in the small end of the US corporate pension universe, where liabilities are often managed through a combination of fixed-income allocations and insurance-company annuity purchases. The family's broader portfolio extends beyond timber — museum collections, private aviation interests, and a wooden-boat collection point to a multi-generational wealth architecture where the pension plan serves as a workforce obligation rather than a discretionary investment pool. Collins family members are active in the Portland Yacht Club, where Tim Collins formerly served as Commodore, and the family maintains long-standing ties to the Western Forestry and Conservation Association. What distinguishes this plan is its embeddedness in an operating company that is itself an intergenerational asset. Most single-sponsor pensions of this vintage have been transferred to insurers or terminated; the Collins plan remains an active liability of a family-controlled industrial company, making its investment posture inseparable from the timber cycle, the family's conservation ethos, and the governance preferences of a multigenerational board.
General information
Firm type
Pension Fund
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
Wilsonville
Corporate office
Wilsonville, OR, United States
Principals
Cherida Collins Smith
Chair of the Board of Directors, Collins Pine Company
Truman Wesley Collins Jr.
Board Member, Collins Pine Company; President, The Collins Foundation
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who runs the Collins Pine Company Retirement Plan?
The plan is sponsored by Collins Pine Company, which is governed by a board chaired by sixth-generation family member Cherida Collins Smith. Truman Wesley Collins Jr. also serves on the board and acts as President of The Collins Foundation. Day-to-day administration of the companion defined-contribution plan is handled by Milliman, the actuarial and benefits firm.
How is the plan funded, given Collins is a private timber company?
Funding comes from the operating cash flows of Collins Pine Company, which owns substantial timberland across California, Oregon, and Pennsylvania, plus the Chester Sawmill in California. The plan's health is directly tied to the timber cycle, harvest volumes, and lumber pricing — a concentrated economic exposure uncommon in diversified corporate pension pools.
Does the Collins family maintain other investment vehicles beyond the retirement plan?
Yes. The family controls The Collins Foundation, a philanthropic entity with assets and grantmaking separate from the pension plan. The family also holds private aviation interests, a museum collection, and a wooden-boat collection. These are personal or foundation assets, not plan assets.
Is this plan open to new participants or frozen?
Public filings do not indicate whether the defined-benefit plan is open, closed, or frozen. Given its small size and single-sponsor structure, it is likely closed to new entrants, though the companion 401k plan remains an active vehicle for Collins employees.
How does the Collins Pine plan compare to other timber-company pensions?
Most large timber-company pensions — Weyerhaeuser's, for example — are multiples larger and managed by dedicated in-house staff or outsourced CIOs. Collins Pine's plan is an order of magnitude smaller, run as a workforce obligation inside a family-controlled operating company, with no evidence of a separate investment office.
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