Investment & Employees' 401(k)
Director: Tina Thoman

1.888.411.4239
Tina_Thoman@ibew.org

The IBEW Investment/IBEW Employees' 401(k) Plan Department is under the direction of Tina Thoman, the Manager, who is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the department.
           
Investments:
The department reports to, and provides assistance to, the International Officers on investing the pension funds and other funds for which the IBEW is responsible.  The primary duties of overseeing the assets of the funds includes, meeting with and evaluating the performance of the Investment Managers; maintaining correspondence, files and invoices; accounting of Real Estate Investments and meeting with the Real Estate Consultant; oversight of commercial mortgages and property owned; contact with the Custodial Bank for investment of funds; and preparation of various reports, which include monthly Custodial Reports, monthly Trustee Performance Reports, quarterly reports to the International Executive Council (IEC) and an annual report to the International Officers. 
In the past year, the total dollar amount of the IBEW Pension Benefit Fund has grown from 1.6 billion dollars to 1.7 billion dollars showing a 1-year rate of return of 9.45%.  In the last year the PBF has restructured the asset allocation and completed new Investment Guidelines.

IBEW Employees' 401(k) Plan:
This plan was established July 1, 1997, with the IBEW as "Plan Sponsor" and Prudential as "Trustee".  This plan covers U.S. based employees of the IBEW International and U.S. based IBEW Local Unions' and affiliated organizations' office staff.  We currently have 60 Locals and affiliated organizations participating. As of December 2005, plan holdings totaled $21 million dollars. This plan currently offers 17 different contribution options and a selection of 13 different funds for investment.

The responsibilities of administering this fund include direct contact with local unions/affiliated organizations; submitting IRS and DOL required filings; collection, entering, transmission and verification of all contributions to Prudential; maintaining database of plan participants; administering loans, hardship withdrawals, separation of service notices and rollovers; annual compliance testing for each local union/affiliated organizations; keeping current of regulation changes affecting the plan; evaluating performance of  investment options; participant education; and communicating performance updates to all participants.

As our plan grows we recognize the importance of education and continue to encourage our participants to use the available educational tools on the Prudential site.