Modern Woodmen of America Employees' Retirement Plan

Modern Woodmen of America Employees' Retirement Plan

Founded in 1883 as a fraternal benefit society, Modern Woodmen of America operates a member-owned financial services organization in Rock Island, Illinois. President and CEO Jerry Lyphout oversees a group that provides life insurance, annuities, and retirement planning to members across the United States. The organization's retirement plan, rather than farming out all alternatives management, runs an internal alternatives portfolio managed by Adam Schwab alongside the broader investment team led by CIO Brett Van. The plan targets venture capital broadly, with no single subsector dominating its disclosures. Aaron Birkland focuses on private placements, signaling a preference for direct company stakes over fund-of-funds structures, though the full mix of fund commitments versus direct deals remains undisclosed. The portfolio's only publicly surfaced real asset is a position in the Central Park Group Real Estate Special Situations Fund LLC, a mixed-use vehicle based in Omaha. No specific venture portfolio companies have been disclosed. The investment team operates from a single location in Rock Island, with no additional global offices. Team size is not public, though four investment professionals are named: CIO Brett Van, Portfolio Manager Adam Schwab, Portfolio Manager Aaron Birkland, and CEO Jerry Lyphout. No recent operational events have been publicly reported within the last 24 months that materially alter the plan's posture. The plan's structure sets it apart: it is a pension vehicle embedded in a fraternal benefit society — a member-owned structure without shareholders — that executes direct private placements internally. This architecture combines the long-duration liability profile of a pension with a governance model driven by member benefit rather than external shareholder return, shaping a patient, internally controlled capital base.