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SW OH Regional Council of Carpenters Pension Plan
The Southwest Ohio Regional Council of Carpenters Pension Plan covers construction-industry participants in the Cincinnati-Dayton corridor, sponsored by the...
SW OH Regional Council of Carpenters Pension Plan
The Southwest Ohio Regional Council of Carpenters Pension Plan covers construction-industry participants in the Cincinnati-Dayton corridor, sponsored by the Southwest Ohio Regional Council of Carpenters labor organization. Like many multiemployer plans in the building trades, it faced severe funding shortfalls that triggered benefit cuts under the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014 (MPRA). Those cuts were reversed when the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation approved $182.7 million in Special Financial Assistance in 2023 — a one-time infusion designed under the American Rescue Plan Act to restore full benefits through at least 2051 (per PBGC, 2023). The plan's investment posture is a classic fund-of-funds stack common to smaller union pension plans: a heavy overweight to core real estate alongside a thin layer of liquid alternatives and money-market ballast. Known real estate commitments include the AFL-CIO Building Investment Trust, American Core Realty Fund, Principal Enhanced Property Fund, and a local direct holding in a mixed-use asset in Greater Cincinnati. The fund also holds the Pimco Commodity Return Fund for inflation-aware exposure and the American Stable Value Fund for principal protection. No venture, no direct private equity — this is a preservation-plus-yield construction. The board operates with the lean governance typical of regional multiemployer plans: a secretary of trustees and a plan administrator as the named fiduciaries, with no disclosed internal investment staff. Asset management is entirely delegated to external fund managers. The plan's geographic focus is implicitly regional, but the underlying fund commitments give it national real estate exposure through pooled institutional vehicles. The distinguishing structural feature of this plan is its ongoing status as a PBGC-assisted entity. Most pension profiles treat federal backstops as an edge case; here, the SFA grant is the defining operational fact. Every investment decision now sits inside a regulatory framework where the PBGC monitors the plan's path to projected solvency, and any deviation in funding ratio or benefit disbursement draws federal scrutiny. That makes this plan more constrained — and more predictable — than a typical multiemployer fund of comparable size.
General information
Firm type
Pension Fund
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
Monroe
Corporate office
Monroe, OH, United States
Principals
Steve Schramm
Secretary of the Board of Trustees
Mark Trimbach
Plan Administrator
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who has fiduciary authority over the SW Ohio Regional Council of Carpenters Pension Plan?
The plan is governed by a Board of Trustees. The named fiduciaries on public filings include Steve Schramm, who serves as Secretary of the Board, and Mark Trimbach, the Plan Administrator. The sponsoring union is the Southwest Ohio Regional Council of Carpenters, and the plan operates under the umbrella of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America.
How did the PBGC Special Financial Assistance grant change the plan's funded status?
The $182.7 million SFA grant, approved in 2023 under the American Rescue Plan Act, was specifically designed to restore benefits that had been suspended under the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014 and to projected solvency through 2051 (per PBGC, 2023). Before the grant, the plan was on a trajectory that would have required PBGC multiemployer insurance intervention — likely at a fraction of promised benefits. The grant effectively rewound the clock on the plan's worst-case funding scenario.
What is the investment strategy for this plan?
The plan runs a fund-of-funds strategy with a heavy tilt toward core and core-plus real estate. Known commitments include the AFL-CIO Building Investment Trust, American Core Realty Fund, and Principal Enhanced Property Fund, alongside a direct mixed-use interest in Greater Cincinnati. The liquid sleeve includes the Pimco Commodity Return Fund, American Stable Value Fund, and BlackRock Money Market products. There is no disclosed allocation to venture capital or direct private equity.
Does the plan manage any assets internally or co-invest directly?
All known investments flow through external fund managers — there is no disclosed internal investment staff or direct co-investment program. The single exception is a direct real estate holding described as a mixed-use property in the Greater Cincinnati area, but even this may be held through a managed vehicle rather than operated directly.
What does the PBGC oversight mean for the plan's future investment decisions?
Recipients of PBGC Special Financial Assistance must comply with conditions attached to the grant, including restrictions on benefit increases for a set period and ongoing reporting requirements. The plan's investment policy must operate within a framework where the PBGC effectively serves as a monitoring backstop. This typically limits the plan's ability to take on material new risk — pushing the portfolio toward the conservative, income-oriented posture already evident in its fund lineup.
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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