John Millette
About John Millette
John Millette is Secretary of The European Equity Fund, Inc. (EEA), serving in this role since January 1, 2011; he previously served as Assistant Secretary from July 14, 2006 to December 31, 2010, and as Secretary to the Fund from January 30, 2006 to July 13, 2006 . He is age 62 as disclosed in 2025 and holds senior legal leadership roles within DWS Group, including Chief Legal Officer of DWS Investment Management Americas, Inc. (since 2019), Director and Vice President of DWS Trust Company, Vice President of DBX Advisors LLC (since 2021), and Secretary of DBX ETF Trust (since 2020) . In fund corporate matters, he acts as attesting officer (e.g., Articles Supplementary/Amendment) in his capacity as Secretary . EEA has no employees and pays no compensation to officers, so there are no disclosed officer-level pay-for-performance metrics or incentive linkages at the Fund level .
Past Roles
| Organization | Role | Years | Strategic impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| The European Equity Fund, Inc. (EEA) | Secretary | Since 2011 (Assistant Secretary 2006–2010; Secretary to Fund Jan 30, 2006–Jul 13, 2006) | — |
| DWS Investment Management Americas, Inc. | Chief Legal Officer | Since 2019 | — |
| DWS Trust Company | Director and Vice President | Noted as current in proxy | — |
| DBX Advisors LLC | Vice President | Since 2021 | — |
| DBX ETF Trust | Secretary (Assistant Secretary 2019–2020) | Secretary since 2020; Assistant Secretary 2019–2020 | — |
| DWS (Legal) | Associate General Counsel | Noted as current in proxy | — |
External Roles
| Organization | Role | Years |
|---|---|---|
| Cayman Real Assets Fund, Ltd. | Director | Since 2018 |
| Cayman Commodity Fund II, Ltd. | Director | Since 2018 |
Fixed Compensation
- The Fund has no employees and does not pay compensation to officers; consequently, EEA does not disclose a base salary, target bonus, or cash compensation for Mr. Millette at the Fund level .
| Fund-paid cash compensation to officers | FY 2023 | FY 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Base salary | None | None |
| Target/actual bonus | None | None |
Performance Compensation
- EEA does not grant officer equity or cash incentive awards; there are no disclosed performance metrics, weightings, or vesting tied to officer compensation at the Fund level .
| Incentive type | Metric | Weighting | Target | Actual | Payout | Vesting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cash bonus (Fund-level) | — | — | — | — | None | — |
| Stock/RSU awards (Fund-level) | — | — | — | — | None | — |
| Options (Fund-level) | — | — | — | — | None | — |
As EEA does not pay officer compensation, any compensation for Mr. Millette would be determined by DWS Group entities and is not disclosed in EEA’s proxy filings .
Equity Ownership & Alignment
- Individual beneficial ownership: Mr. Millette reported “None” (no shares) owned in EEA on each disclosure referenced below; officers and directors as a group owned less than 1% of shares outstanding on the cited record dates .
| Metric | Apr 30, 2021 | Apr 29, 2022 | May 2, 2024 | May 16, 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shares beneficially owned (Millette) | None | None | None | None |
| Group ownership (Directors + Execs) | <1% (10,029 shares as group) | <1% (8,081 shares as group) | <1% (5,396 shares as group) | <1% (3,930 shares as group) |
- Pledging/hedging: The proxy does not disclose officer-level pledging or hedging activity; no Form 4 insider transactions are disclosed in the proxy. (EEA proxy states officers receive no compensation; ownership for officers is listed, but no pledging detail is provided) .
Employment Terms
| Term | Detail |
|---|---|
| Election/tenure | Officers are elected annually by the Board following the Annual Meeting; Mr. Millette has served as Secretary since Jan 1, 2011 (Assistant Secretary 2006–2010; Secretary to the Fund Jan–Jul 2006) . |
| Compensation committee | None; as the Fund has no employees, the Board has not established a compensation committee . |
| Attestation authority | Signs/attests corporate instruments on behalf of the Fund in his capacity as Secretary (e.g., Articles Supplementary/Amendment) . |
| Director/officer pay policy | EEA pays no compensation to officers; only non-interested Directors receive director fees/retainers . |
| Communications | Shareholder communications to the Board are directed to the Fund’s Secretary at DWS’s listed address . |
Investment Implications
- Pay-for-performance alignment: There is no Fund-level officer compensation, equity, or incentive plan; thus, no vesting overhang or forced selling pressure exists for Mr. Millette from EEA awards, and no explicit linkage to Fund TSR or operating metrics is disclosed at the Fund level .
- Ownership alignment: Mr. Millette reports no beneficial ownership in EEA common stock across multiple years, and officers/directors as a group hold less than 1%—limiting direct economic alignment via fund share ownership .
- Retention/contract risk: Officer terms are annual elections by the Board, and employment/economic arrangements appear to reside with DWS Group; the EEA proxy does not disclose severance, change-of-control, or clawback terms for officers—suggesting Fund-level retention levers are limited and tied to DWS policies outside EEA disclosure .
- Governance/role impact: As Secretary and DWS legal executive, Mr. Millette’s influence is principally in governance, regulatory and documentation quality rather than portfolio performance; his attestation role underscores process integrity but does not create direct trading signals tied to compensation events (no grants, no vesting cadence) .