Laura T. Donovan
About Laura T. Donovan
Laura T. Donovan (born 1976) serves as Chief Compliance Officer (CCO) of Eaton Vance Municipal Income Trust (EVN) and is a Vice President of Eaton Vance and Boston Management and Research (BMR), having been appointed an officer of the fund complex in 2024; she is listed as an officer across 123 registered investment companies in the Eaton Vance family of funds . Officers hold indefinite terms of office and, as part of the Eaton Vance organization, the CCO role is embedded in fund risk oversight where the Board’s Compliance Reports and Regulatory Matters Committee serves as liaison to the CCO . For context during Donovan’s tenure, EVN reported one-year performance to May 31, 2025 of -0.12% at NAV and 8.90% at market price ; the prior year to May 31, 2024 was 4.62% at NAV and 6.95% at market price .
Past Roles
| Organization | Role | Years | Strategic Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eaton Vance & Boston Management and Research (BMR) | Vice President; Officer across the fund complex | Past five years (as disclosed), Officer since 2024 at EVN | Senior compliance leadership supporting oversight of day-to-day fund compliance programs via Board committees and fund service providers |
External Roles
No external public company directorships or committee roles are disclosed for officers in EVN’s proxy; Donovan’s principal occupation is Vice President at Eaton Vance and BMR .
Fixed Compensation
- Officers who are members of the Eaton Vance organization receive remuneration for their services to EVN out of the investment adviser’s fees; the fund does not itemize officer salary, bonus, or equity in its filings .
- Trustee compensation is separately disclosed and not applicable to the CCO role; trustees receive retainers and committee fees paid pro rata by funds in the complex .
Performance Compensation
- EVN does not disclose officer incentive structures or performance-metric linkages (e.g., revenue, EBITDA, TSR) for fund officers; officer remuneration flows from the adviser and is not broken out at the fund level .
- The Compliance Reports and Regulatory Matters Committee formally liaises with the CCO and addresses compliance and regulatory matters, but filings do not describe any CCO-specific incentive metrics or vesting .
Equity Ownership & Alignment
| Metric | As of | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trustees and executive officers’ beneficial ownership (group) | Dec 30, 2024 | Less than 1% of outstanding Common Shares | Filings state the group of Trustees and executive officers owned beneficially <1% of EVN’s outstanding Common Shares . |
| Common Shares outstanding (EVN) | Dec 30, 2024 | 39,667,163 | Shares outstanding on the proxy record date . |
- EVN filings do not itemize Donovan’s individual EVN share holdings, nor do they disclose officer-level vesting schedules, options, or pledging/hedging arrangements .
Employment Terms
- Office status: Officers hold indefinite terms of office; Donovan is listed as CCO beginning in 2024 .
- Role oversight: The Compliance Reports and Regulatory Matters Committee serves as liaison to the CCO and functions as a qualified legal compliance committee under SEC rules .
- Severance/change-of-control/clawbacks: No employment agreements or severance/change-of-control economics, clawbacks, or ownership guidelines are disclosed for officers in EVN filings .
Performance & Track Record (Fund context during tenure)
| Metric | FY Period Ended May 31, 2024 | FY Period Ended May 31, 2025 | |---|---|---|---| | One-Year Return at NAV (%) | 4.62 | -0.12 | | One-Year Return at Market Price (%) | 6.95 | 8.90 | | Premium/Discount to NAV at period-end (%) | -10.38 | -2.29 |
Additional fund context:
- Officers and trustees who are members of EVM’s organization are remunerated through the adviser’s fees (advisory 0.40% and administration 0.20% of average weekly gross assets; during the six months ended May 31, 2025, advisory and admin fees were $1,240,399 and $620,200, respectively) .
- Board-level compliance oversight is active: the Compliance Reports and Regulatory Matters Committee met eight times in the fiscal year ended November 30, 2024 .
Investment Implications
- Pay-for-performance transparency is limited: EVN does not disclose officer-level salary, bonus, equity grants, or performance metrics, and officer remuneration is paid by the adviser rather than the fund, constraining evaluation of incentive alignment at the fund level .
- Equity alignment appears minimal at the fund: trustees and executive officers as a group hold <1% of EVN shares, and individual officer ownership is not itemized; no pledging or hedging disclosures for officers are provided .
- Governance and oversight are established: Donovan’s CCO role operates under active Board committee oversight, with formal liaison via the Compliance Reports and Regulatory Matters Committee, providing structural compliance oversight across the fund’s operations .
- Trading signals from insider activity are unavailable: EVN’s filings emphasize Section 16 compliance and trustee compensation but do not provide officer transaction detail or vesting schedules for officers; Form 4 data for Donovan was not surfaced in EVN filings .