Local 153 Pension Fund

Local 153 Pension Fund

The Local 153 Pension Fund provides defined-benefit pensions to members of the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU) Local 153, which represents clerical, administrative, and professional workers at employers including New York University, Pratt Institute, and the insurance and financial-services conglomerate Ullico Inc. The fund was established under Taft-Hartley multi-employer rules, meaning it is jointly governed by a board of union and employer trustees. As of 2021, it operated under a rehabilitation plan after filing a notice of critical and declining status with the Department of Labor — a distress tier affecting roughly 15% of multi-employer plans nationally. The fund's investment posture is conservative and institutionally conventional, reflecting fiduciary constraints imposed by ERISA and its own distressed funding ratio. Confirmed allocations include a position in a UBS Realty Investors commercial real estate vehicle managed out of Hartford, Connecticut. The fund has not publicly disclosed a full portfolio breakdown, but Taft-Hartley plans of comparable size and structure typically allocate to fixed-income, public equities, and core real estate — with minimal exposure to private equity or venture. No direct co-investment activity has been reported. Governance rests with a six-person board. On the union side, Richard Lanigan serves as President of the international OPEIU, and Myra Hepburn holds the Secretary-Treasurer role for Local 153. Employer trustee Lloyd Goldenberg administers the fund. In 2021, the fund received a Special Financial Assistance grant through the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation — a program created by the American Rescue Plan Act that provides cash infusions to severely underfunded multi-employer plans. Fund executives George Bueno and Tom Mackell have held leadership positions at the Association of Benefit Administrators, providing connectivity to industry peers through that network and the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans. The fund's defining structural reality is its status as a Taft-Hartley plan in rehabilitation. Unlike a corporate pension or a single-family office, it cannot pivot strategy freely — investment decisions are shaped by a federally supervised rehabilitation schedule and the statutory obligation to restore funding ratios over a prescribed timeline. The PBGC SFA grant provides temporary liquidity but does not resolve the underlying actuarial deficit. Contributing employers like NYU continue to make withdrawal-liability payments extending into the next decade.