Teamsters Local No. 35 Pension Plan

Teamsters Local No. 35 Pension Plan

Teamsters Local No. 35 Pension Plan was established in 1968 to provide retirement, disability, and death benefits to eligible participants of the Trenton, New Jersey-based local. The plan is a Taft-Hartley multi-employer fund, meaning contributions are negotiated through collective bargaining agreements between Local 35 and public and private sector employers. Known contributing employers include Barnegat Township, the Borough of Pennington, and West Pharmaceutical Services. The fund is administered by Phyllis A. Lucidi alongside President Roger F. Grover. The fund allocates across a spectrum of asset classes designed to match long-dated liabilities with growth-oriented returns. Its strategy spans buyout, venture capital, mezzanine debt, distressed credit, and special situations, accessed through both fund commitments and direct co-investments. In real assets, the plan holds direct commercial property including the Teamsters Local 35 Union Hall at 620 US Route 130 in Trenton. Public filings and fund documents indicate positions in the ARA Core Property Fund and a portfolio of US commercial real estate holdings. The venture and private equity exposure is executed via fund-of-funds relationships and direct placements across stages from seed through late-stage expansion. With approximately $47 million in assets, the plan is a small institutional allocator by national standards but plays an essential role in the retirement security of its local membership base. The fund is housed alongside the related Teamsters Local No. 35 Health and Welfare Fund out of the union's Trenton headquarters. A notable cultural and governance dimension is the family involvement in its administration: Frank Lucidi, a past president of the local chapter of the Industrial Relations Research Association, previously held leadership roles within the organization. The union also maintains legacy assets including a Piper Cub and a Mooney airplane. Structurally, the plan's most distinctive feature is its uninterrupted five-decade history as a collectively bargained pension trust. It has never been a market-facing institutional allocator and does not compete for LP capital. Its investment decisions are made against a backdrop of negotiated employer contribution rates and participant demographics, not quarterly fundraising cycles. This insulation from asset-gathering pressure allows a relatively long-horizon, diversified strategy uncommon among plans of its size.