Teamsters Local 731

Teamsters Local 731

Teamsters Local 731's pension fund operates from the union's headquarters in Burr Ridge, Illinois, with John J. Lisner serving as President and Trustee of its various funds. The local is a dues-paying affiliate of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, representing workers in construction, building trades, and related industries across the Chicago region. As a Taft-Hartley multi-employer pension plan, the fund manages retirement assets on behalf of Local 731's membership, governed by a board of trustees split between labor and management representatives. The fund allocates to venture capital, a departure from the fixed-income and public-equity core typical of most union pension funds. Its strategy spans direct investments into private technology companies. While the fund does not publicly disclose its portfolio, the venture commitment is notable given the plan's building-trades base — an industry where pension capital usually flows toward real estate, infrastructure, or traditional fixed-income mandates. The geographic focus reflects the local's membership footprint, concentrated in Illinois and the broader Midwest. Local 731 is affiliated with Teamsters Joint Council 25, the regional body that coordinates 25 Chicago-area Teamsters locals, and participates in the Chicago Federation of Labor and the Cook County Building Trades. The union also sponsors the Teamsters Local 731 Scholarship Fund, a separate philanthropic vehicle for members' families. Illinois State Representative Anthony DeLuca is a dues-paying member of the local, linking its membership directly to state-level labor policy. The fund's adjacent commercial real estate includes the union's headquarters building at 1000 Burr Ridge Parkway, held as a fixed asset on its balance sheet. The structural differentiator is the plan's appetite for venture capital within a Taft-Hartley framework. Most multi-employer plans avoid illiquid alternative exposures due to withdrawal liability rules and liquidity requirements. Local 731's decision to allocate directly to VC — rather than through a fund-of-funds or a third-party consultant overlay — suggests an internal conviction or trusted manager relationship that sets its investment posture apart from peer building-trades funds in the Midwest.