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PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center Pension Plan
Founded in 1974 alongside the growth of what was then Southwest Washington Medical Center, the PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center Pension Plan serves...
PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center Pension Plan
Founded in 1974 alongside the growth of what was then Southwest Washington Medical Center, the PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center Pension Plan serves employees of a nonprofit Catholic health system with operations across Washington, Oregon, and Alaska. The plan is sponsored directly by the medical center, which merged into the broader PeaceHealth system in 2010. Its governance flows through the health system's executive leadership — President and CEO Sarah Ness and outgoing CEO Liz Dunne — rather than a standalone investment committee with a dedicated chief investment officer. The plan allocates across private equity, distressed debt, and real estate using a fund-of-funds structure, with secondary-market purchases supplementing primary commitments. Real estate holdings are concentrated in the Pacific Northwest, including the PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center campus in Vancouver, Washington, the PeaceHealth South Campus in Bellingham, and undeveloped land in Springfield, Oregon. The investment portfolio also carries exposure to co-investments alongside Apollo Global Management, whose portfolio company LifePoint Health operates a joint venture with PeaceHealth for rehabilitation and behavioral health facilities across the system's footprint. Total assets are estimated at roughly $1 million (Altss estimate), reflecting the small scale typical of a single-hospital defined benefit plan closed to new entrants. The plan operates alongside several affiliated philanthropic foundations — including the PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center Foundation and PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center Foundation — which maintain separate governance and donor-directed investment pools. The health system participates in the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, signaling a faith-based screen on certain investment activities. In May 2024, the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy recognized PeaceHealth as an Overall Revenue High Performer. The plan's structural differentiator is its embeddedness within a health system that runs joint ventures with external operators like ApolloMD for physician staffing and Quest Diagnostics for laboratory services. This operating-company adjacency means investment decisions can occasionally align with strategic partners who also manage the hospital's clinical and real estate assets — a posture more common among Catholic health system treasuries than among standalone pension funds of similar size.
General information
Firm type
Corporate Pension Plan
Year founded
1974
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
Vancouver
Corporate office
Vancouver, WA, United States
Principals
Sarah Ness
President and Chief Executive Officer
Liz Dunne
Outgoing President and Chief Executive Officer
Ric Magnuson
Interim Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Mike Dwyer
President of Strategy and Business Value
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who runs investment decisions for the plan?
Investment oversight sits within the PeaceHealth health system's executive leadership, not a standalone pension investment committee. The plan's sponsor — PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center — is ultimately governed by President and CEO Sarah Ness and the system-level finance function currently led by Interim CFO Ric Magnuson. Because the plan is a noncontributory defined benefit arrangement, liability management and funding discipline are coordinated directly with the system's treasury rather than an external fiduciary.
How is the plan invested?
The plan uses a fund-of-funds approach across private equity, distressed debt, and real estate. Real estate holdings include medical office buildings, undeveloped land parcels in Oregon, and the PeaceHealth South Campus in Bellingham, Washington. The plan also participates in secondary-market transactions, purchasing LP interests from other institutional sellers.
What is the plan's relationship to Apollo Global Management?
Apollo Global Management is both a business partner and investment counterparty. Apollo's portfolio company LifePoint Health operates a joint venture with PeaceHealth for rehabilitation and behavioral health facilities. The plan's investment portfolio also holds exposure to Apollo-managed funds, including private equity and distressed debt strategies.
Does the plan apply faith-based investment screens?
PeaceHealth is a member of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, which coordinates shareholder advocacy and responsible investment guidelines among faith-based institutional investors. While the specific screen framework for the pension plan is not publicly documented, the system's Catholic identity and ICCR membership suggest ESG criteria influence investment policy.
How is the plan's real estate portfolio managed?
Real estate holdings are concentrated on the health system's own operating campuses and adjacent development parcels — including medical office buildings in Vancouver and Bellingham, Washington, and undeveloped land in Springfield, Oregon. These assets appear to be held directly by the system rather than through third-party real estate managers, blurring the line between pension investment and health system strategic real estate.
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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