# Delaware County (Pa.) Retirement Fund

Delaware County (Pa.) Retirement Fund is a Pension Fund based in Media, United States.

## Overview

- **Organization type:** Pension Fund
- **Headquarters:** Media, United States
- **Region:** North America
- **Address:** Media, PA, United States
- **Assets under management:** Undisclosed

## Regulatory record

- **Reports private funds:** No

## About

The Delaware County (Pa.) Retirement Fund manages pension assets for public employees of Delaware County, operating out of the county seat in Media, Pennsylvania. The board comprises five seated members drawn from county government: Councilwoman and Board Chair Christine Reuther, County Controller and Board Secretary Joanne Phillips, County Treasurer James Hackett, and Councilwomen Elaine Paul Schaefer and Monica Taylor. Board Solicitor Jonathan Lichtenstein provides legal oversight to the retirement system. This governance structure — elected and appointed county officials directly administering the pension trust — is a legacy design common to Pennsylvania's municipal retirement systems. The fund deploys capital almost exclusively through buyout-oriented transactions, with its real estate portfolio serving as the principal deployment vehicle. The strategy focuses on direct ownership of mixed-use properties within Delaware County, bypassing the fund-of-funds and partnership structures that many peer county plans use to access institutional real estate. Holdings are maintained in a dedicated real estate portfolio, with the underlying pension trust fund assets domiciled in Media. The geographic concentration is total — the fund appears to own property only within its jurisdictional boundaries, making it a deeply localized institutional landlord. As a public defined-benefit pension plan, the fund's scale and annual contribution flows are governed by actuarial valuations and county-budget negotiations rather than voluntary capital calls. The board composition — blending council members with the county controller and treasurer — gives the fund a direct line to the county's fiscal machinery but also embeds it in local political cycles. Court and regulatory filings track the fund through its relationship to the county's annual financial reporting obligations, though the system does not maintain a standalone public website or issue press releases. The fund's structural differentiator is its radical locality constraint. Most municipal pension plans diversify real estate exposure across multiple markets and property types through commingled fund commitments. The Delaware County Retirement Fund instead owns Delaware County real estate directly, making its performance tethered to the economic trajectory of a single suburban Philadelphia county.

## Sectors

- Real Estate

## People

- Christine Reuther — Board Chair
- Joanne Phillips — County Controller and Board Secretary
- James Hackett — County Treasurer
- Elaine Paul Schaefer — Board Member
- Monica Taylor — Board Member
- Jonathan Lichtenstein — Board Solicitor

## Questions

### Who makes investment decisions for the Delaware County Retirement Fund?

The board directly oversees investment decisions. The five-member board includes Board Chair Christine Reuther, Secretary Joanne Phillips, Treasurer James Hackett, and Councilwomen Elaine Paul Schaefer and Monica Taylor. Board Solicitor Jonathan Lichtenstein advises on legal matters. The board's composition is defined by statute, not by a nominating committee, which means investment oversight rests with county officials managing multiple governmental responsibilities.

### How is the fund's real estate exposure structured?

The fund holds a dedicated real estate portfolio consisting of directly owned mixed-use properties in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. This is not a fund-of-funds or external-manager model — the pension trust owns the real estate assets outright through the county's administrative apparatus. The portfolio's geographic concentration distinguishes it from diversified municipal pension real estate programs.

### What is the fund's relationship to the Delaware County government budget?

The retirement fund is a governmental plan whose employer contributions come from the county's annual budget process. The board is populated by county officials who simultaneously participate in the budget cycle — the controller sits on the board as secretary and the treasurer as a board member. This interlock means pension funding obligations compete with other county spending priorities during each fiscal-year negotiation.

## Related profiles

- [Dearborn Heights Police & Fire Pension Plan](https://altss.com/profile/dearborn-heights-police-fire-pension-plan)
- [Delta Lloyd Pensioenfonds](https://altss.com/profile/delta-lloyd-pensioenfonds)

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Last updated: 2026-06-03T20:00:00.000Z

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