Painters & Allied Trades District Council #35

Painters & Allied Trades District Council #35

The District Council #35 pension plan covers active and retired painters and allied trades workers in greater Boston. While the plan's precise size and board composition remain undisclosed in readily accessible filings, it follows the defined-benefit model common to building-trades unions. Unlike most Taft-Hartley plans, which deploy capital across a diversified menu of equities, fixed income, real estate, and buyout funds, Council #35 tilts heavily toward secondaries. Past portfolio disclosures show the plan buying positions in existing private equity partnerships via intermediaries and secondary specialists. This strategy gives the fund shorter-duration exposure than primary commitments, reduced J-curve drag, and a narrower manager roster — features that matter to a mid-sized plan without a large internal investment staff. The geographic focus centers on North American middle-market buyout and growth equity funds, with some exposure to venture portfolios. In recent years, the plan's trustees have considered allocation shifts to respond to denominator-effect pressures, but the secondary-heavy posture has remained deliberate. The fund does not operate a co-investment program or direct-deal sourcing capability. Public meeting minutes from the board's consultants indicate the plan periodically reviews its manager lineup and may rebalance into infrastructure or private credit as market conditions shift. The plan does not maintain a separate foundation or venture arm. Structurally, the plan's differentiator is its concentration risk deliberately taken. Most pension funds treat secondaries as a tactical sleeve; Council #35 appears to treat it as the core private-markets engine. This architecture replaces fund-of-funds layering with direct secondary purchases, creating a cost structure and vintage diversification profile uncommon among building-trades plans. The union's decision-making sits with a board of trustees split evenly between labor and management representatives, per Taft-Hartley rules, with investment consultants guiding manager selection.