Rush University Medical Center Retirement Plan

Rush University Medical Center Retirement Plan

The Rush University Medical Center 403(b) Retirement Savings Plan serves eligible employees of the academic medical center and its affiliated entities, including Rush Oak Park Hospital. Administered through Fidelity as recordkeeper, the plan aggregates pre-tax contributions from physicians, researchers, nurses, and support staff across the Rush system. President and CEO Omar Lateef leads the institution, which anchors a campus at 1653 W. Congress Parkway on Chicago's Near West Side and operates one of the city's major safety-net hospitals. The plan's investment committee draws governance expertise from trustee Karl Palasz, a partner at William Blair, and Stephen Potter, who previously served as president of Northern Trust Asset Management. The plan operates as a defined-contribution structure, with employees directing allocations among a curated menu of Fidelity mutual funds and third-party investment options. While individual holdings are participant-directed, the plan's investment committee — chaired by CIO Alex Wiggins — sets the fund lineup, monitors fees, and conducts periodic reviews under ERISA fiduciary standards. Wiggins maintains professional ties through the CFA Society of Chicago, linking the plan to the city's broader institutional investment community. The medical center's broader balance sheet holds additional assets, including royalty rights to Ampyra, a multiple sclerosis drug commercialized by Acorda Therapeutics. No asset-size disclosure is available. The plan files an annual Form 5500, which would list participant counts and aggregate holdings but is not aggregated in public databases at the time of this writing. The medical center itself reported $2.8 billion in annual operating revenue in 2023, per its audited financial statements, suggesting a participant base in the low tens of thousands and retirement-plan assets proportionate to a major urban academic employer. Rush Copley Foundation — the system's philanthropic arm — operates separately from the retirement plan, with no commingling of charitable assets. Unlike a typical corporate pension, this plan carries no defined-benefit obligation — it is fully participant-directed and not a balance-sheet risk to the medical center. Its structural differentiation lies in the governance overlay: a board that blends the medical center's CFO and CEO with investment professionals who have direct experience in asset management distribution and Chicago's private-capital networks, giving participants access to a committee typically found at larger, disclosed endowments.