UFCW Local 400

Investment oversight rests with the plan's board of trustees, which includes union-side fiduciaries Mark Federici (President of UFCW Local 400) and Christopher Hoffmann (Secretary-Treasurer). The board operates under the governance structure standard for Taft-Hartley multiemployer plans, with equal representation from union and employer trustees. Day-to-day investment management is typically delegated to external consultants and fund managers, though specific mandates are not publicly disclosed.

The plan is a multiemployer defined-benefit pension fund established in 1982 under the Taft-Hartley Act. It pools contributions from multiple employers in the grocery, retail, and food-processing sectors whose workforces are represented by UFCW Locals 27 and 400. The defined-benefit structure means the plan guarantees a specified monthly benefit at retirement, with funding obligations falling on participating employers based on collectively bargained contribution rates.

The fund concentrates its investment activity in secondaries and special situations, a relatively uncommon focus for a union pension plan of its size. This strategy involves purchasing existing investor commitments in private equity or other alternative funds on the secondary market, which can provide earlier liquidity and reduced J-curve effects compared to primary fund commitments. Specific fund relationships and recent secondary purchases are not publicly reported.

Participating employers include grocery chains, retail operators, and food-processing companies whose employees are represented by UFCW Locals 27 and 400 across Maryland, Virginia, Washington D.C., and West Virginia. The multiemployer structure means contribution rates and participation terms are established through collective bargaining agreements. Individual employer names are not publicly consolidated in a single accessible filing.

The pension plan is a separate legal entity from the union itself, but governance overlaps through shared leadership — Mark Federici serves as both Local 400's president and a plan trustee. UFCW Local 400 also maintains a headquarters building and the Metro 400 commercial property in Landover, Maryland, along with a charity foundation. The pension fund's investment posture is informed by the union's broader engagement with labor-aligned research initiatives, including work with the Private Equity Stakeholder Project on private equity's effects in the retail sector.

There is no public evidence of coordinated co-investment programs with other union pension funds, though the plan's participation in the broader UFCW International network and the AFL-CIO's Metropolitan Washington Council creates natural information-sharing channels common among labor-affiliated allocators. Specific co-investment or club-deal activity is not disclosed.

Current funded-ratio data is not publicly available through easily accessible sources. As a multiemployer plan in the grocery and retail sectors — industries that have undergone significant consolidation — the plan faces the same structural pressures common to mature Taft-Hartley funds: an aging participant base, employer withdrawal risk, and actuarial assumptions requiring regular review. The plan was established in 1982 and continues to provide benefits to eligible participants and their beneficiaries.