Stephen Van Meter
About Stephen Van Meter
Stephen Van Meter (born June 5, 1975) serves as Chief Compliance Officer (CCO) and Senior Vice President of the Federated Hermes fund complex and is the CCO of Federated Hermes, Inc. and certain subsidiaries; he has been an officer of the Federated Hermes Premier Municipal Income Fund (FMN) since July 2015 and holds FINRA Series 3, 7, 24, and 66 licenses . Prior to Federated Hermes, he was Senior Counsel in both the SEC’s Division of Investment Management (Office of Chief Counsel) and Division of Enforcement, and earlier served as Compliance Operating Officer at Federated Hermes, Inc. after joining in October 2011 . As an officer, he provides regular compliance risk reporting to the Fund’s Board as part of the Board’s risk oversight framework .
Past Roles
| Organization | Role | Years | Strategic impact / notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission | Senior Counsel, Office of Chief Counsel, Division of Investment Management; Senior Counsel, Division of Enforcement | Before Oct 2011 | SEC policy/enforcement experience cited in FMN proxy biography |
| Federated Hermes, Inc. | Compliance Operating Officer | Between Oct 2011 and Jul 2015 (joined Oct 2011; became CCO Jul 2015) | Enterprise compliance operations at adviser (title as disclosed) |
| Federated Hermes fund complex | Chief Compliance Officer; Senior Vice President | Jul 2015–present | Oversees compliance program; reports to FMN Board on significant compliance risks |
External Roles
- Not disclosed for Mr. Van Meter in FMN’s proxy materials .
Fixed Compensation
| Component | Paid by FMN? | Disclosure status | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base salary | No | Not disclosed in FMN filings | FMN discloses officers “do not receive any compensation from any fund in the Federated Hermes Complex, including the Fund” . |
| Cash bonus / annual incentive | No | Not disclosed in FMN filings | Compensation, if any, would be at Federated Hermes, Inc., not FMN . |
| Benefits/perquisites | No | Not disclosed in FMN filings | Fund-level officer pay not reported . |
Performance Compensation
| Incentive type | Metric(s) | Weighting | Target | Actual/Payout | Vesting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Equity (RSUs/PSUs/options) | Not disclosed | — | — | — | — |
| Cash STI (bonus) | Not disclosed | — | — | — | — |
| LTI plan | Not disclosed | — | — | — | — |
FMN proxies do not report officer incentive metrics or payouts; FMN states officers are not compensated by the Fund .
Equity Ownership & Alignment
| Metric | 7/31/2024 | 6/30/2025 |
|---|---|---|
| FMN shares owned (beneficial) | 0 (FMN proxy notes the only officer/trustee holder was J. Christopher Donahue; “no other officer or Trustee … beneficially owned any shares”) | 0 (FMN proxy again shows only Donahue held shares; “no other officer or Trustee … beneficially owned any shares”) |
| Ownership as % of class | ~0% (officers and trustees collectively <1%) | ~0% (officers and trustees collectively <1%) |
| Shares pledged as collateral | Not disclosed | Not disclosed |
| Ownership guidelines (officers) | Not disclosed | Not disclosed |
Additional governance context:
- Section 16(a) compliance: FMN reports all required beneficial ownership filings were timely for the latest fiscal years reviewed .
Employment Terms
| Term | Detail |
|---|---|
| FMN officer role | Chief Compliance Officer and Senior Vice President |
| Start date in role | July 2015 |
| Election/term | Officers are elected annually by the Board; each holds office until a successor is qualified |
| Employment contract | Not disclosed in FMN filings |
| Severance / change-in-control | Not disclosed in FMN filings |
| Clawback / hedging / pledging policies | Not disclosed for officers in FMN filings |
| Non-compete / non-solicit / garden leave | Not disclosed in FMN filings |
Investment Implications
- Alignment: Mr. Van Meter held no FMN shares as of July 31, 2024 and June 30, 2025, implying limited direct economic alignment with FMN’s NAV/market performance; officers and trustees collectively owned <1% of each class . With no fund-level compensation and no FMN ownership, traditional pay-for-performance and insider selling pressure signals are not observable at the fund level for this officer .
- Retention risk: FMN discloses no employment agreement, severance, or change-in-control terms for officers; compensation is determined at Federated Hermes, Inc. rather than at FMN, so retention levers and incentives reside at the adviser (not disclosed in FMN documents) .
- Governance and execution: The Board’s risk oversight explicitly relies on regular reporting from the Chief Compliance Officer, underscoring Mr. Van Meter’s role in compliance risk management—a key function for a registered investment company .
- Trading signal context: Activist engagement with Saba Capital led to a 32% issuer tender offer at 99% of NAV (Sep–Oct 2024) under a standstill, a material event for FMN’s market dynamics and discount management; while not attributable to Mr. Van Meter specifically, it shaped shareholder liquidity and pricing around that period .
Bottom line: FMN’s disclosures provide strong visibility into Mr. Van Meter’s compliance leadership and background but no visibility into his compensation structure, performance metrics, vesting, or adviser-level equity—limiting direct assessment of pay-for-performance alignment or insider-driven trading signals at the Fund level .