Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local #139

Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local #139

IBEW Local 139 represents electrical workers in New York's Southern Tier, with its pension fund managed from Elmira. Business Manager Warren Roman, who also serves as Secretary-Treasurer of the Southern Tier Building & Construction Trades Council, oversees the fund alongside President Josh Fitzwater and Fund Manager Kristine VanFleet. The Local operates ancillary welfare and educational trusts, creating a small constellation of related asset pools servicing its membership. The pension fund's investment posture is defined by a heavy concentration in secondaries, a strategy that typically allows smaller limited partners to acquire seasoned private fund stakes on a discount or shorter timeline. No direct venture or co-investment positions are publicly attributed to the fund. The Local's alternative asset exposure appears almost singularly routed through secondary market purchases, complemented by direct real estate assets including the union hall at 415 W. Second Street and a dedicated training center on College Avenue. With an estimated $44M in assets, Local 139 is among the smaller union pension funds operating in upstate New York. The fund maintains active community ties through the Chemung County Chamber of Commerce and United Way of the Southern Tier, where Roman holds a board seat. Membership development representative Nick Ahearn also sits on the Chamber's board, reinforcing the Local's entanglement with regional economic development organizations. The fund's structural posture — a single-strategy secondary buyer at sub-institutional scale — sets it apart from peer union plans that typically hold broad, consultant-advised allocations across public equities and core fixed income. This concentration suggests either a lasting trustee conviction or a specific access relationship with secondary intermediaries serving the Taft-Hartley market.