Teamsters Local 727 Benefit Funds

John T. Coli, Jr., as Secretary-Treasurer of Local 727 and Chairman of the Benefit Funds, holds primary authority over plan operations and investment direction. The Board of Trustees — which includes union president Caleen Carter-Patton and charitable fund president Tony Wendel — governs plan decisions. The structure concentrates fiduciary discretion in a small group of union officers who also manage the plan's building ownership and affiliated charitable funds.

The Fund invests through external managers across fund-of-funds, direct co-investments, and commitments to buyout, credit, and venture vehicles. Its Chicago location and International Brotherhood of Teamsters network likely provide regional deal-flow advantages, particularly in middle-market industrial and real-asset opportunities. The plan's participation in the Midwest Employee Benefit Funds Coalition suggests co-investment idea-sharing among peer Taft-Hartley plans.

It is a multiemployer Taft-Hartley defined-benefit plan. Multiple employers within the Teamsters Local 727 bargaining unit contribute on behalf of covered workers. This structural status brings PBGC backstop obligations and Joint Board governance under ERISA, alongside the liquidity and duration requirements characteristic of collectively bargained pension pools.

The plan's disclosed strategy includes direct secondaries and co-investments alongside fund-of-funds, buyout, and venture commitments. Specific portfolio-company names are not publicly disclosed by the fund. The dual direct-and-fund approach — spanning early-stage seed to distressed debt — suggests a flexible allocation framework rather than a rigid CIO-driven portfolio template.

The pension plan owns the office building at 1300 W. Higgins Road in Park Ridge, Illinois, which serves as the headquarters for Teamsters Local 727. The property is managed by Susan Fosco, the sister of Chairman John T. Coli, Jr. The arrangement represents a self-managed real estate asset inside the pension's portfolio and an operational overlap between plan leadership, building ownership, and family ties.

Chairman Coli has led the Benefit Funds for decades, and governance authority runs through a small board of union-officer trustees. A 2018 Department of Labor action permanently barred the Chairman's brother — the plan's former administrator — from serving as an ERISA fiduciary, signaling external scrutiny of the plan's governance. The current operating structure places succession and compliance oversight with the Board of Trustees, whose membership is determined by union-leadership elections.

The fund does not publicly disclose specific general-partner relationships, venture-commitment names, or direct-holding positions. Its Form 5500 filings — available through the Department of Labor — provide asset-level transparency including fund names and commitment sizes, which is the primary public window into its manager roster.