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Williams, Kastner & Gibbs PLLC Retirement Plan
Rodney Umberger leads Williams Kastner's retirement plan, a participant-directed vehicle sponsored by the 1929-founded Pacific Northwest law firm.
Williams, Kastner & Gibbs PLLC Retirement Plan
Williams Kastner was founded in 1929 in Seattle, Washington, and has expanded to offices in Portland, Oregon, and the Inland Northwest. The firm fields more than 65 attorneys who provide litigation, transactional, and regulatory counsel to clients across the Pacific Northwest and internationally through a strategic alliance with China's Duan & Duan. The Williams, Kastner & Gibbs PLLC Retirement Plan is the institutional asset owner associated with the firm, functioning as a defined-contribution retirement vehicle for its professionals. As a participant-directed retirement plan, the pool's deployment mechanics lack the centralized asset-class mandates typical of traditional pension funds. Available plan documentation indicates the assets are held as Participant-Directed Retirement Assets, meaning the firm's professionals make their own allocation decisions from a curated menu of investment options. There is no public record of consolidated target-date fund use, alternative-asset commitments, or passive-to-active equity ratios. The underlying menu and its providers remain undisclosed. Total deployment and current plan assets are not publicly reported. The firm itself employs over 65 attorneys and operates out of three offices, with recent leadership activity focused on the core legal practice. In mid-2026, Williams Kastner promoted four attorneys — Brad Hill, Greg Reinert, Brad Schlesinger, and Ashley Shearer — to Of Counsel across its Portland and Seattle offices (per Williams Kastner, May 2026). The firm maintains affiliations with professional networks including the USLAW NETWORK and Oregon Women Lawyers, and supports philanthropic organizations such as the Safe Crossings Foundation and the Campaign for Equal Justice. The plan's architecture differs from standard institutional pools because it vests all portfolio construction authority in the individual participants, with the firm acting solely as the plan sponsor. There is no CIO, investment committee, or OCIO disclosed in public records. Governance flows through the law firm's Board of Directors, led by Managing Director Rodney Umberger, rather than a separate pension board, making the plan's oversight an extension of the firm's own partnership structure.
General information
Firm type
Pension Fund
Year founded
1929
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
Seattle
Corporate office
Seattle, WA, United States
Additional offices
Portland, OR · Inland Northwest Office
Principals
Rodney L. Umberger
Managing Director
Eliot M. Harris
Member, Board of Directors
Jessie L. Harris
Member, Board of Directors
Jeffery M. Wells
Member, Board of Directors
Sheryl J. Willert
Member, Board of Directors
Frequently asked questions
Who sponsors the Williams, Kastner & Gibbs PLLC Retirement Plan?
The plan is sponsored by Williams Kastner, the law firm founded in 1929 in Seattle, Washington. The firm acts as both the employer and the plan sponsor, with governance handled by its Board of Directors rather than a separate pension authority. Managing Director Rodney Umberger serves on that board alongside Members Eliot Harris, Jessie Harris, Jeffery Wells, and Sheryl Willert.
Is the plan actively managed by an internal investment team?
No internal investment team or chief investment officer is publicly identified. The plan is described as a participant-directed pool, meaning the firm's employees select their own investments from an available menu. All governance reports through the law firm's own Board of Directors, with no separate investment committee disclosed.
Does the plan invest in private equity, venture capital, or real assets?
There is no public disclosure of alternative-asset commitments. All known assets are categorized as Participant-Directed Retirement Assets, which typically consist of mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, and target-date vehicles within a defined-contribution architecture. Any mandate for private markets would be an internal, undisclosed fund-menu choice rather than a plan-level allocation.
Why is the plan's structure different from a standard corporate pension?
The plan operates under a defined-contribution model that delegates all investment decisions to individual participants. Unlike defined-benefit pensions that pool assets under a centralized investment committee, this structure has no publicly reported fiduciaries dedicated to asset allocation outside the firm's existing Board of Directors. That makes it an employer-sponsored savings vehicle rather than a professionally managed institutional pool.
What is the relationship between the retirement plan and Williams Kastner's philanthropic activities?
The plan and the firm's philanthropy operate on wholly separate tracks. Williams Kastner's attorneys provide pro bono legal services and donate to organizations including the Safe Crossings Foundation, the Campaign for Equal Justice, and various food banks, but plan assets are exclusively retirement savings. No program-related investment or donor-advised fund linkage is disclosed.
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