International Brotherhood of Boilermakers Officers and Employees' Pension Plan

International Brotherhood of Boilermakers Officers and Employees' Pension Plan

The International Brotherhood of Boilermakers Officers and Employees' Pension Plan is a multiemployer defined benefit plan founded in 1951 to serve officers and staff of the Boilermakers union and its affiliated lodges, based in Kansas City, Missouri. The plan is a distinct legal entity governed by a board of trustees, though its operations and strategy have historically been shaped by the union's top elected leaders — most notably former International President Newton Jones, who controlled the plan's investment committee until his 2024 federal indictment alongside former Secretary-Treasurer William Creeden. The plan's assets are funded through employer contributions negotiated in collective bargaining agreements across the construction, shipbuilding, and industrial maintenance sectors. The plan's reported asset mix spans real estate, private credit, and infrastructure. Known holdings include the Bank of Labor, a Kansas City community bank the plan controls through an investment vehicle — a rare instance of a Taft-Hartley plan owning a regulated financial institution. The plan also holds direct commercial real estate, including its longtime headquarters at 753 State Avenue in Kansas City, Kansas, and a newer office complex at 12200 North Ambassador Drive in Kansas City, Missouri. Additional assets include industrial training facilities in Arizona and Ontario, and a fractional interest in private aviation. The plan's strategy encompasses co-investment, buyout, distressed debt, and venture-stage allocations, though specific fund commitments or portfolio company names aside from the Bank of Labor are not publicly documented. Geographic concentration is heavily weighted toward the Midwest and industrial union strongholds. Headcount and total AUM are not publicly disclosed. The plan's governance came under extraordinary public scrutiny in March 2024 when a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of New York indicted five individuals — including Newton Jones, his wife Kateryna Jones, his son Cullen Jones, former Secretary-Treasurer William Creeden, and then-Secretary-Treasurer Kathy Stapp — on charges including RICO conspiracy, embezzlement, and wire fraud. The indictment alleges that over $20 million in plan assets was diverted through no-show jobs for family members and other improper disbursements. The Department of Labor appointed an independent fiduciary to take over plan operations shortly thereafter. Timothy Simmons was elected International President of the union in 2024, with Clint Penny assuming the Secretary-Treasurer role. Structurally, this plan stands apart from the broader Taft-Hartley universe because allegations of corruption triggered a rare active takeover — a DOL-appointed independent fiduciary now runs the investment committee, creating an unusual governance layer. The plan's control of the Bank of Labor also marks it as an outlier, mixing ERISA fiduciary duties with the complexities of bank ownership. Whether the plan will divest the Bank of Labor as part of the ongoing receivership process remains an open question that institutional counterparties are watching closely.