Dow Chemical Company Pension Fund

Overview

The Dow Chemical Company Pension Fund serves as the defined-benefit vehicle for eligible US employees of the Midland, Michigan-based materials science giant. It sits within the company's broader benefits architecture and reports through corporate treasury, a structure typical of large industrial pension plans. Investment oversight is led by CIO John Blaha, with Kelly Reyes serving as plan administrator for the Dow Employees' Pension Plan. The fund allocates across a diversified institutional portfolio. Confirmed commitments span European commercial real estate through Tristan Capital Partners' EPISO series and global mixed-use property via Aberdeen Property Investors, supplemented by direct agricultural land holdings through NCH Capital. Traditional fixed-income and public-equity allocations form the core portfolio. The geographic footprint extends from US domestic holdings into Europe and select emerging agricultural markets. Dow participates in the Council of Institutional Investors, signaling active engagement on governance matters within its public-market portfolio. The fund's adjacent structures include The Dow Chemical Company Foundation, the firm's philanthropic vehicle, though the two operate with separate mandates. In its most recent regulatory filings, the plan maintained standard defined-benefit liability-matching posture expected of a frozen or mature corporate plan. The fund's structural distinction lies in its blended deployment model. Unlike many corporate plans that have fully outsourced to an OCIO, Dow retains internal CIO discretion for direct real-asset allocations while using specialized external managers for European real estate and agricultural strategies. This partial-insourcing reflects the company's willingness to commit balance-sheet energy to real assets alongside its operating business in materials science.