Retirement Plan for Salaried Employees of the Hillman Company

Investment strategy and execution flow through The Hillman Company, the operating entity led by CEO Kevin Lavelle and President Joseph Manzinger. The plan does not maintain a separate investment committee with outside members. This integrated structure means the same team managing family capital also oversees pension assets, with the late Henry L. Hillman's investment philosophy — long-term, relationship-driven, concentrated — still shaping posture more than five years after his death.

The plan sits inside The Hillman Company ecosystem, which functions simultaneously as a family office, an operating business, and a private investment platform. Outside allocators cannot easily draw a line between pension-specific assets and family capital because no such formal wall exists in public disclosures. This commingling model gives the plan access to direct deals and fund relationships — including co-investments alongside entities like Smith Point Capital — that a typical standalone corporate pension could not replicate.

Both. The Hillman legacy includes limited partner commitments to foundational private equity vehicles — Henry Hillman was an original investor in KKR's first fund — alongside direct co-investment positions in technology companies. Recent known co-investments include Gather AI and ZEDEDA alongside Smith Point Capital. The family's real estate exposure operates through a dedicated commercial property portfolio rather than through third-party fund vehicles.

The fortune originates with Henry L. Hillman, who inherited and transformed Pittsburgh Coke & Chemical Company into a diversified industrial and investment conglomerate. Hillman began allocating to private companies well before the formal private equity industry existed, building an early-stage portfolio that included backing Andreessen Horowitz and numerous other venture firms. The wealth is now stewarded across multiple generations through The Hillman Company, the pension plan, and the Hillman Family Foundations, with civic philanthropy concentrated in Pittsburgh institutions.

The plan actively co-invests through The Hillman Company's network. Public records confirm positions alongside Smith Point Capital in industrial and enterprise technology deals. The family's seven decades of manager relationships — predating the institutionalization of venture capital as an asset class — provide deal flow that most pension plans of comparable size cannot access. Co-investment rights are typically secured through long-standing limited partner relationships rather than transactional sourcing.