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Northwest Carpenters Retirement Trust
The Northwest Carpenters Retirement Trust provides retirement benefits to members of the Pacific Northwest Regional Council of Carpenters. The fund operates a...
Northwest Carpenters Retirement Trust
The Northwest Carpenters Retirement Trust provides retirement benefits to members of the Pacific Northwest Regional Council of Carpenters. The fund operates a hybrid defined-benefit and cash-balance structure. Its investment posture centers on a concentrated buyout allocation, with strategy records listing buyout commitments across six overlapping mandates. The trust manages its assets from an administrative office in downtown Seattle and also maintains a separately identified Sustainable Income Benefit pool for benefit distribution purposes. The trust's investment strategy is anchored in private equity buyouts, with deployment focused on acquiring or backing controlling stakes in operating companies. While specific portfolio names and fund commitments are not publicly catalogued, the repeated buyout mandate indicates a preference for direct and co-mingled private equity vehicles over minority-growth or venture-stage exposures. The geographic scope is tied to the beneficiary base, concentrated in the US Pacific Northwest and Western states. In December 2024, the Northwest plan completed an integration with the Southwest Carpenters Pension Plan, bringing the combined pool of union carpenters under a shared benefit framework. Douglas McCarron served as a trustee for the Southwest plan during the transition. The combined entity operates from the same Seattle headquarters, with no additional offices disclosed. The fund does not appear to participate in club deals, operate an affiliated foundation, or seed external managers publicly. The trust's defining structural feature is its dual-benefit architecture — a traditional defined-benefit plan coupled with a cash-balance component and a separately tracked Sustainable Income Benefit pool. This construction reflects the multiemployer Taft-Hartley pension model, where plan governance sits with a board of trustees jointly appointed by the union and contributing employers, rather than a single corporate sponsor or sovereign.
General information
Firm type
Pension Fund
Year founded
—
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
Seattle
Corporate office
2200 Sixth Avenue, Suite 300, Seattle, WA 98121, United States
Principals
Sean Hartranft
Trustee
Antonio Acosta
Trustee
Douglas McCarron
Trustee
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who runs investment decisions at Northwest Carpenters Retirement Trust?
The plan is governed by a board of trustees jointly appointed by the Pacific Northwest Regional Council of Carpenters and contributing employers. Sean Hartranft and Antonio Acosta are identified trustees of the Northwest trust. Investment decisions and asset allocation fall under the board's fiduciary authority, typically with support from an external investment consultant, a standard structure for Taft-Hartley multiemployer plans.
Is the trust a defined-benefit or defined-contribution plan?
The Northwest Carpenters Retirement Trust operates a hybrid defined-benefit and cash-balance structure. Members accrue traditional pension credits while also participating in a cash-balance component that provides individual account portability. The trust also administers a Sustainable Income Benefit pool for ongoing retirement payments.
Does the trust commit to funds or invest directly?
The trust's strategy records indicate a heavy emphasis on buyout allocations, which in a Taft-Hartley context typically means commitments to private equity funds managed by external general partners. The presence of six overlapping buyout strategy tags suggests the plan spreads commitments across multiple vintage years and fund managers. No evidence of direct deal activity is public.
What happened in the merger with the Southwest Carpenters Pension Plan?
Effective December 31, 2024, the Southwest Carpenters Pension Plan merged into the Northwest Carpenters Retirement Trust, consolidating the benefit obligations and assets of carpentry union members across multiple Western states under a single Seattle-based plan. Douglas McCarron, then a trustee of the Southwest plan, was listed among the merger counterparties.
Which sectors does the trust explicitly avoid?
The trust has not published an exclusion list or ESG policy, but its strategy tags show zero exposure to venture capital, growth equity, credit, or real estate separate accounts. The singular focus on buyout mandates implies a deliberate avoidance of early-stage, minority-stake, and non-control investments common in other public and private pension portfolios.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
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