# Local 703 IBT Grocery & Food Employees' Pension Fund Local 703 IBT Grocery & Food Employees' Pension Fund is a Pension Fund based in Oak Brook, United States. ## Overview - **Organization type:** Pension Fund - **Headquarters:** Oak Brook, United States - **Region:** North America - **Address:** 1333 Butterfield Road, Suite 110, Downers Grove, IL 60515, United States - **Founded:** 1950 - **Assets under management:** $100M - $250M (Altss estimate) - **Website:** teamsterslocal703.com ## Regulatory record - **Reports private funds:** No ## About Local 703 IBT Grocery & Food Employees' Pension Fund was established in 1950 as a defined-benefit plan serving members of Teamsters Local 703, a labor union representing workers in Chicago-area grocery, produce, and food-processing industries. The fund emerged from the post-war expansion of collectively bargained benefits and remains governed by a joint board of union and employer trustees. Benefits Management Group, Inc. administers day-to-day operations, a common arrangement among small-to-midsized Taft-Hartley plans that lack dedicated in-house investment staff. The fund deploys capital through a diversified fund-of-funds structure, committing to commingled vehicles across public equity, fixed income, real estate equity, and cash equivalents. Direct portfolio holdings are not publicly disclosed, but Department of Labor Form 5500 filings confirm exposure to common collective trusts and master trust vehicles — a hallmark of multiemployer plans that pool assets for scale. The real estate sleeve includes mixed-use properties, though individual property-level detail is not disaggregated in public filings. Investments span the United States, with no publicly documented international allocation. The fund's posture reflects its fiduciary mandate: capital preservation and reliable income generation to meet monthly benefit obligations for retirees across Northern Illinois. Trustees Patrick W. Flynn, Anthony L. Lamy, and Thomas J. Stiede — all officers of the parent union — represent labor interests on the board. Employer trustees, including Co-Chair Donna L. Spagnola, balance governance. The fund participates in the National Coordinating Committee for Multiemployer Plans, the sector's primary advocacy group, and sends representatives to International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans conferences. It shares administrative infrastructure with the Chicago Area I.B. of T. Severance and Retirement Plan, a related multiemployer vehicle with overlapping trusteeship. The fund's total participant count and funded ratio are publicly available through annual Form 5500 filings. The operational hub sits at 1333 Butterfield Road in suburban Downers Grove, Illinois, co-located with the union's administrative offices. What distinguishes the fund structurally is its status as a legacy Taft-Hartley plan operating in a consolidating sector. As grocery supply chains automate and union density declines, the fund faces demographic headwinds familiar to multiemployer plans: a shrinking active-participant base supporting a growing retiree population. The fund does not run internal investment committees of the kind found at large public pensions; all manager selection is delegated, making the quality of its consultant relationships and gatekeeper due diligence the binding constraint on portfolio outcomes. ## Sectors - Private Equity - Real Estate - Fixed Income - Public Equity ## People - Patrick W. Flynn — President, Teamsters Local 703 & Trustee - Anthony L. Lamy — Secretary-Treasurer, Teamsters Local 703 & Trustee - Thomas J. Stiede — Vice President, Teamsters Local 703 & Trustee - Michael G. DiGrazia — Recording Secretary, Teamsters Local 703 & Trustee - Donna L. Spagnola — Co-Chair Employer Trustee ## Questions ### Who makes the investment decisions at the fund? The Board of Trustees holds ultimate fiduciary authority. Day-to-day investment management is outsourced to institutional managers through a fund-of-funds structure. The board is composed equally of union-appointed trustees — including President Patrick W. Flynn and Secretary-Treasurer Anthony L. Lamy — and employer-appointed trustees. Benefits Management Group, Inc. provides administrative support. The fund does not employ a dedicated internal chief investment officer. ### What is the fund's current funded status? The fund's most recent funded ratio is available through the Department of Labor's Form 5500 database and annual funding notices provided to plan participants. Multiemployer plans in the grocery sector have faced demographic pressure from a declining active-to-retiree ratio, but individual plan-level funded status requires review of the most recent actuarial valuation. ### How is the fund governed and who are the key fiduciaries? Governance follows the Taft-Hartley joint-board model. Union trustees are drawn from Local 703's executive board: Patrick W. Flynn (President), Anthony L. Lamy (Secretary-Treasurer), Thomas J. Stiede (Vice President), and Michael G. DiGrazia (Recording Secretary). Employer trustees include Donna L. Spagnola as Co-Chair. The board operates without a separate investment committee, relying on external consultants for asset allocation and manager selection advice. ### What industries do the plan participants come from? Members work primarily in grocery, produce, and food-processing industries within the Chicago metropolitan area and Northern Illinois. This concentration in a single regional industrial base — unionized food distribution — means the fund's contribution base is highly correlated with the local grocery labor market, an important structural consideration for long-term contribution stability. ## Related profiles - [Children's Foundation](https://altss.com/profile/childrens-foundation) - [Initiative for a Competitive Inner City](https://altss.com/profile/initiative-for-a-competitive-inner-city) --- Last updated: 2026-06-03T20:00:00.000Z Canonical page: https://altss.com/profile/local-703-ibt-grocery-and-food-employees-pension-fund Maintained by Altss — https://altss.com — methodology: https://altss.com/methodology