West Virginia Laborers Pension Trust Fund

West Virginia Laborers Pension Trust Fund

The West Virginia Laborers Pension Trust Fund was established in 1965 as a multi-employer, non-contributory defined benefit plan serving members of the Laborers' International Union of North America (LIUNA) in West Virginia and surrounding Appalachian jurisdictions. The fund is governed by a board of trustees split between union and employer representatives. Chairman W. Craig Harvey and Union Trustee Gary O. Tillis — the Business Manager of the West Virginia Laborers' District Council — set investment policy and oversee plan administration. Nathanael Aylestock serves as Administrative Manager, handling day-to-day operations from the fund's Charleston headquarters. The fund allocates across a traditional pension portfolio that mixes liquid fixed-income vehicles with illiquid private-market exposure. Confirmed allocations include a direct real estate mandate with American Realty Advisors through the firm's Core Equity Composite, which targets mixed-use property across the United States. The fund also participates in buyout strategies through fund-of-funds structures and maintains a short-term investment fund for cash management and benefit-payment liquidity. Asset-class exposure spans real estate equity, private equity, and fixed income, with a domestic geographic focus that occasionally extends into national pooled vehicles. Total net assets sit at approximately $553M (Altss estimate), placing the fund in the mid-sized tier of Taft-Hartley plans nationally. The fund is affiliated with the National Coordinating Committee for Multiemployer Plans (NCCMP), the primary advocacy and education body for collectively bargained retirement plans in the United States. LIUNA leadership exercises direct influence over the fund's strategic direction through the union's trustee seats, aligning investment decisions with the long-term benefit obligations owed to West Virginia's construction laborers. As a multi-employer plan governed by ERISA and jointly trusteed under the Taft-Hartley Act, the fund's structure is distinct from corporate or public pension plans. Contribution rates are negotiated through collective bargaining agreements between LIUNA locals and signatory contractors, which means asset flows into the fund depend on union employment levels in the region. This structural feature makes liquidity management and contribution-smoothing critical functions for the board and administrative team, and it differentiates the fund's risk appetite from similarly sized single-employer plans.