Sheet Metal Workers Local #20 Gary Area

Sheet Metal Workers Local #20 Gary Area

The Sheet Metal Workers Local #20 Gary Area Pension Fund is the retirement vehicle for members of SMART Local 20, covering sheet metal workers across Northwest Indiana. The fund operates from offices in Portage and Merrillville, with Business Manager Trent L. Todd serving as the key fiduciary. It is a classic multi-employer Taft-Hartley plan, jointly governed by union and employer trustees including Gary Business Representative Kreg Homoky. The fund's roots lie in the industrial unionism of the Great Lakes region, where skilled trades pensions became a cornerstone of retirement security. The fund's investment strategy centers on direct real estate ownership alongside traditional institutional allocations. Confirmed properties include the fund's own administrative office at 2111 West Lincoln Highway in Merrillville and the Local 20 Training Center on Union Street in Hobart — both held as income-producing assets. Asset management functions for the welfare and benefit fund are administered out of Indianapolis. The fund's posture is conservative, typical for union defined-benefit plans: long-duration, income-oriented, with a preference for tangible assets over venture. The fund's governance sits within the broader SMART international union structure and the Northeast Indiana Building & Construction Trades Council, where Local 20 leadership holds executive roles. These interlocking labor relationships shape trustee selection and, by extension, the fund's approach to manager selection — favoring relationships built through labor networks rather than open RFPs. The plan's scale is not publicly disclosed, but Northwest Indiana multi-employer plans of this type typically range from $50 million to $200 million in assets, an Altss estimate based on regional peer plan data. The fund's structural differentiator is its hybrid direct-ownership model. Unlike most Taft-Hartley plans that outsource all real asset exposure to REITs or fund managers, Local 20 holds direct title to commercial and industrial properties in its own geography. This gives the trustees — who know the local market intimately — direct control over lease negotiations, maintenance capital, and long-term asset strategy, a governance feature more common among single-family offices than union pension plans.