Teamsters Local 639-Employers Pension Trust Fund

Teamsters Local 639-Employers Pension Trust Fund

The Teamsters Local 639-Employers Pension Trust Fund is a multi-employer Taft-Hartley defined-benefit plan serving members of International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 639, a Washington, D.C.-area union whose jurisdiction covers freight, warehouse, and logistics workers. The plan is jointly governed by a board of trustees split between union representatives — led by Plan Administrator Philip Giles — and employer-side trustees including Raymond Howard, Eric Weiss, and Frank Stegman. It operates under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, placing it inside one of the most heavily regulated corners of US institutional capital with mandatory funding requirements and PBGC oversight. The fund's asset allocation combines a traditional liability-driven fixed-income core with targeted allocations to private market strategies. Confirmed positions include a stake in the ASB Allegiance Real Estate Fund, a core open-end property vehicle investing across industrial, multifamily, and office assets in the United States (per Altss research). The fund also participates in middle-market private credit through WaCap's direct lending strategy, an unlevered feeder into Seattle-based Washington Capital Partners' private debt platform. These allocations place the fund among the thousands of mid-sized US pensions that anchor institutional real estate and credit fundraises — a capital base that rarely issues RFPs publicly but maintains steady, multi-decade commitments to vetted GPs. Geographic exposure tilts toward the US mid-Atlantic and Pacific Northwest, reflecting trustee familiarity and relationship-sourced manager access. The pension's governance structure is its most salient operational feature: the joint union-employer trustee board means investment decisions require consensus across parties with fundamentally different economic interests. Union trustees prioritize benefit security and participant services, while employer trustees monitor contribution rates and funding ratios. This dynamic produces conservative pacing and a preference for well-understood asset classes — real estate equity, private credit, and investment-grade fixed income — over venture capital or opportunistic strategies. Recent Form 5500 filings would show the fund's exact liability, cash flow, and contribution-collection status, which are material for any GP assessing counter-party risk in a long-duration commitment. The plan's affiliation with Joint Council No. 55 links it to a broader network of mid-Atlantic Teamster funds that occasionally share trustee education and manager due diligence resources.