New England Health Care Employees Pension Plan

New England Health Care Employees Pension Plan

The New England Health Care Employees Pension Plan launched in 1991 to serve healthcare workers represented by District 1199 of the Service Employees International Union across Connecticut and New England. The fund operates as a Taft-Hartley multiemployer plan, collecting contributions from participating hospitals and nursing homes — including Waterbury Hospital and Saint Francis Hospital & Medical Center — to pool retirement assets for a unionized workforce concentrated in long-term care and acute-care settings. David Pickus serves as Plan Administrator, with Ellen Barnes listed as Plan Sponsor. The plan deploys capital across a deliberately broad mandate spanning venture capital, growth equity, buyouts, distressed debt, mezzanine, secondaries, and fund-of-funds commitments. The strategy blends early-stage exposure — seed through startup — with later-stage buyout and special-situations allocations, reflecting a pension fund willing to reach for return across the liquidity spectrum. Confirmed participants in the plan's employer base include Genesis Healthcare, which owes the fund approximately $12.3 million in outstanding contributions, 2024). The fund's geographic footprint concentrates on New England, though its investment partnerships reach nationally through fund commitments. The plan reported a funding shortfall sufficient to trigger 'critical status' certification for the 2024 plan year under federal law, signaling liquidity or funding challenges that require a rehabilitation plan filed with the IRS. This status places the fund under heightened regulatory scrutiny and mandates specific corrective contribution schedules from participating employers. The plan shares governance infrastructure with related entities including the New England Health Care Foundation and the New England Health Care Employees Welfare Fund. The fund's structural posture is defined by its Taft-Hartley governance model — jointly trusteeship by union and employer representatives rather than a single sponsor's control. This architecture subjects investment decisions to a fiduciary framework distinct from corporate or public pension plans, with trustees navigating negotiated contribution rates and federally mandated funding rehabilitation plans alongside their asset-allocation decisions.