UFCW Local 1262 Pension Fund

The fund is governed by a Board of Trustees chaired by Harvey Whille, who also serves as president of UFCW Local 1262. The board operates under the jointly-trusteed model required of all Taft-Hartley multiemployer plans, meaning labor and employer representatives share decision-making authority. Day-to-day investment execution is typically delegated to an investment consultant who recommends external fund commitments for board approval. The plan's secretary-treasurer John Colella handles administrative and contribution-collection functions, while the board retains ultimate fiduciary responsibility for asset-allocation decisions.

The UFCW Local 1262 Pension Fund invests almost exclusively through limited-partner commitments to external general partners, not through direct deals or co-investments. Taft-Hartley plans of this size typically access managers through relationships cultivated by their investment consultant, through gatekeeper platforms, and through the established fundraising cycles of middle-market buyout and venture firms that allocate capacity to union pension plans. The fund does not maintain an in-house direct-investment team.

The UFCW Local 1262 and Employers Pension Fund is a multiemployer Taft-Hartley defined-benefit plan. It pools contributions from numerous unionized employers — grocery chains, food-processing companies, and retail operators — that have collective-bargaining agreements with UFCW Local 1262. This structure means the asset base grows through negotiated hourly contributions per covered worker rather than through discretionary corporate pension contributions.

While the fund does not publish a formal exclusions list, its disclosed strategy profile shows no allocation to direct real estate or direct infrastructure, focusing private-market exposure on buyout, venture capital, growth equity, mezzanine debt, and natural-resources fund commitments. The plan likely avoids concentrated direct investing and highly speculative single-asset vehicles given the fiduciary constraints and actuarial orientation of a Taft-Hartley defined-benefit plan.

The pension fund is a legally distinct entity from UFCW Local 1262, but the union appoints half the trustees (the labor trustees), with union president Harvey Whille serving as board chairperson. The plan operates under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 — the fund's assets cannot be used for union operating expenses, and all investment decisions must be made solely in the interest of plan participants and beneficiaries.

UFCW Local 1262 sponsors an annual scholarship program for members' families, which is separate from the pension fund. The local also administers a health and welfare fund managed by benefits director Betty Laughery, which provides medical, disability, and death benefits — also legally independent from the pension assets, with separate trust and fiduciary governance.

The UFCW Local 1262 Pension Fund does not publicly indicate a co-investment program. Taft-Hartley plans of this size — particularly those without dedicated internal investment staff — typically do not pursue co-investment opportunities due to the governance burden and speed requirements that co-investments demand. The plan's private-markets program is built on fund commitments, which fit the board's meeting cycle and delegation-to-consultant governance model.