Richard J. Walz

About Richard J. Walz

Richard J. Walz (year of birth: 1959) serves as Chief Compliance Officer (CCO) of The Gabelli Convertible and Income Securities Fund Inc. (GCV) and other registered investment companies within the Gabelli Fund Complex; he has held the CCO role since 2013, with offices at One Corporate Center, Rye, NY 10580-1422 . The Fund’s proxies disclose Walz’s position and tenure but do not provide individual performance metrics (e.g., TSR, revenue, EBITDA) tied to his compensation; the FY2024 proxy’s compensation table covers Directors and any officers compensated by the Fund (if any) and lists only Directors, implying no Fund-paid officer compensation disclosures for FY2024 . Based on the Fund’s review of Section 16 filings for fiscal 2024, executive officers and other reporting persons complied with applicable filing requirements .

Past Roles

External Roles

Fixed Compensation

• GCV’s FY2024 proxy presents a compensation table for Directors and officers “if any” who were compensated by the Fund rather than the Adviser; the table lists only Directors, indicating no Fund-paid officer compensation disclosure for FY2024 .
• The same construct appears in prior proxies (FY2023, FY2022) with compensation tables limited to Directors, reinforcing that officer pay is not disclosed at the Fund level and is typically handled at the Adviser level across the Fund Complex .

Performance Compensation

• The proxies provide no disclosure of performance-based pay components (bonus metrics, PSUs/RSUs, options) for Walz at the Fund level; compensation for the CCO is overseen across the Fund Complex via multi-fund ad hoc Compensation Committees (structure disclosed, specifics not provided) .
• No vesting schedule, payout calibration, or award-level metrics tied to Fund performance for officers are disclosed in GCV’s proxies for FY2022–FY2024 .

Equity Ownership & Alignment

• Walz’s reported beneficial ownership in GCV common shares is zero across the last three reported year-ends.

• The proxies do not disclose any pledged shares, hedging, options, RSUs/PSUs, or officer ownership guidelines applicable to Walz; they note that the group of Directors and executive officers as a whole holds less than 1% of common shares outstanding .

Employment Terms

• Title and tenure: Chief Compliance Officer since 2013 .
• Officer term: “Indefinite term until resignation or until successor is elected and qualified” (applies to officers) .
• Compensation governance: The Fund Complex uses multi-fund ad hoc Compensation Committees to address compensation of the Chief Compliance Officer and certain other closed-end fund officers (committee framework disclosed; individual award terms not provided) .
• Section 16 compliance: Based solely on the Fund’s review, required persons complied with ownership reporting for the fiscal year ended Sept 30, 2024; in the prior year, Mr. Gabelli filed one late Form 4, with no exceptions cited for Walz .

Investment Implications

• Alignment: Zero beneficial ownership suggests limited direct equity-aligned incentives for Walz at the Fund level; no pledging or hedging disclosures are presented, and no officer equity awards are disclosed in proxies, implying minimal equity-driven selling pressure signals .
• Retention/contract risk: Officers hold indefinite terms; compensation oversight via multi-fund committees across the complex points to centralized governance but proxies do not reveal severance, change-of-control, or non-compete terms, limiting visibility into retention economics .
• Trading signals: With no reported holdings and no disclosed equity grants or vesting schedules, insider selling pressure indicators tied to Walz appear immaterial; Section 16 compliance reduces regulatory risk perceptions, and no officer-specific 8-K employment events are disclosed for Walz across recent proxies .
• Governance: Compliance function leadership at the complex level and committee oversight are positives for control environment, but the lack of pay-for-performance detail at the Fund level constrains analysis of incentive alignment for the CCO role .