# International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers Pension Plan International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers Pension Plan is a Pension Fund based in Upper Marlboro, United States. ## Overview - **Organization type:** Pension Fund - **Headquarters:** Upper Marlboro, United States - **Region:** North America - **Address:** Upper Marlboro, MD, United States - **Founded:** 1960 - **Assets under management:** $13B - **Website:** iamnpf.org - **LinkedIn:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/international-association-of-machinsts-&-aerospace-workers ## Regulatory record - **Reports private funds:** No ## About The IAM National Pension Fund, headquartered in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, is the retirement backbone for members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, one of the largest industrial unions in North America. It operates as a Taft-Hartley multiemployer plan, with employer and union trustees jointly governing investment decisions. The fund's existence traces to mid-20th-century collective bargaining agreements in the aerospace and manufacturing sectors, with contributing employers historically including Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Spirit AeroSystems. Asset allocation spans public equities, fixed income, real estate, and private market exposures. In real estate, the fund directly owns commercial property — including a leased office asset at 99 M Street SE in Washington, D.C.'s Capitol Riverfront neighborhood. In alternatives, it holds a stake in Litmus Music, a recorded-music and publishing rights platform backed by Carlyle (per Carlyle Group, 2022), signaling a willingness to engage in intellectual property investments through commingled vehicles. The geographic footprint is national, reflecting the dispersed membership base, with plan participants concentrated in aerospace manufacturing hubs from Washington state to South Carolina and Kansas. Asset management is conducted primarily through external managers and consultants, a standard model for multiemployer plans where trustee boards rely on professional investment staff and retained advisors to construct and monitor the portfolio. The fund has not publicly disclosed total AUM. Participating members are estimated by the union at approximately 100,000 across active and retired status, drawn from locals representing machinists, aerospace workers, and related classifications. The plan shares administrative resources and overlapping board leadership with the IAM National 401(k) Fund, a defined-contribution plan serving the same membership base. In September 2023, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation approved the plan's application for Special Financial Assistance under the American Rescue Plan Act, granting an estimated $1.4 billion to restore benefits through 2051 (per PBGC, September 2023) — a capital infusion that materially reshapes the fund's funded status and long-term liability profile. On the philanthropic side, the plan's trustees maintain a longstanding relationship with Guide Dogs of America, a union-aligned charity providing service dogs to visually impaired individuals and veterans. Structurally, the fund is a multiemployer plan in a sector undergoing post-PBGC bailout repositioning. The receipt of Special Financial Assistance — the largest such grant among multiemployer plans as of late 2023 — places the fund in a cohort of nearly 200 plans that must comply with reinvestment restrictions tied to the bailout. Unlike single-family offices or corporate pensions, the IAM plan's asset pool is insulated from any single corporate sponsor's balance sheet, diversified across hundreds of contributing employers under a collective bargaining framework. Governance is split equally between union and employer trustees, a model that embeds labor-management consensus into every allocation decision. ## Sectors - Real Estate - Private Credit - Music & Entertainment ## People - Justin Welner — Employer Co-Chairman of the Board of Trustees; Senior VP at Spirit AeroSystems - Steve Galloway — Union Co-Chairman of the Board of Trustees ## Questions ### What is the plan's funded status after receiving PBGC assistance? In September 2023, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation approved approximately $1.4 billion in Special Financial Assistance under the American Rescue Plan Act (per PBGC, September 2023). The grant is structured to restore full benefit payments through 2051 by backfilling the plan's projected shortfall. Prior to the grant, the plan was classified as critical and declining, facing insolvency by the late 2020s. ### Does the fund invest in private markets directly or through intermediaries? The fund primarily allocates through external managers and commingled vehicles. Its known private-market exposure includes a position in Litmus Music, a music-rights investment platform backed by The Carlyle Group (per Carlyle, 2022). Direct real estate holdings — such as an office lease at 99 M Street SE in Washington, D.C. — supplement traditional equity and fixed-income mandates managed by third-party asset managers. ### How many participants are in the IAM National Pension Fund? The plan covers roughly 100,000 participants, including active workers currently accruing benefits and retired members receiving payouts. Contributing employers span aerospace, manufacturing, and transportation sectors, with significant participation from Boeing and Spirit AeroSystems facilities. Precise participant counts fluctuate annually based on employment levels and retirement rates in covered bargaining units. ### Is the plan affiliated with the IAM National 401(k) Fund? Yes. The two funds share administrative infrastructure and overlapping board leadership, though they are legally distinct entities. The defined-benefit pension plan and the defined-contribution 401(k) plan both serve International Association of Machinists members, often covering the same bargaining units under parallel collective bargaining agreements. ### How does receiving PBGC Special Financial Assistance change the plan's investment posture? Under PBGC SFA rules, the $1.4 billion grant must be placed in investment-grade fixed-income assets, constraining the portion of the portfolio eligible for higher-return private markets or equity allocation. The remainder of the plan's assets — those not derived from the SFA grant — remain under the trustees' normal investment policy, but the overall portfolio risk profile shifts materially toward capital preservation while the plan absorbs the infusion. ## Related profiles - [International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers (IAM)](https://altss.com/profile/international-association-of-machinists-aerospace-workers-iam) - [International Bank of Qatar](https://altss.com/profile/international-bank-of-qatar) --- Last updated: 2026-07-08T22:09:29.631Z Canonical page: https://altss.com/profile/international-association-of-machinists-aerospace-workers-pension-plan Maintained by Altss — https://altss.com — methodology: https://altss.com/methodology