Richard Walz
About Richard Walz
Richard J. Walz (born 1959) serves as Chief Compliance Officer (CCO) of The Gabelli Dividend & Income Trust (GDV) and other registered investment companies within the Gabelli Fund Complex; he has held the CCO position for GDV since 2013 . GDV’s proxy statements report Trustee compensation and, if any, officers compensated directly by the Fund; they do not provide individual officer pay elements or performance-linked metrics (e.g., TSR, revenue/EBITDA growth) for Walz, who is not compensated by the Fund .
Past Roles
| Organization | Role | Years | Strategic Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gabelli Fund Complex (including GDV) | Chief Compliance Officer | 2013–present | Oversight of regulatory compliance for registered investment companies within the Gabelli complex . |
External Roles
- No external directorships or outside roles for Richard J. Walz are disclosed in GDV’s DEF 14A filings reviewed .
Fixed Compensation
- GDV discloses only Trustee fees and, if applicable, officers compensated directly by the Fund; Richard J. Walz is not listed as receiving compensation from the Fund. Compensation for Walz, if any, would be paid by the Adviser (Gabelli Funds, LLC) and not reported in GDV’s proxy .
| Component | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Base Salary (Fund-paid) | Not disclosed by Fund; not Fund-paid | Not disclosed by Fund; not Fund-paid | Not disclosed by Fund; not Fund-paid | Not disclosed by Fund; not Fund-paid | Not disclosed by Fund; not Fund-paid |
| Target Bonus % (Fund-paid) | Not disclosed | Not disclosed | Not disclosed | Not disclosed | Not disclosed |
| Actual Annual Bonus (Fund-paid) | Not disclosed | Not disclosed | Not disclosed | Not disclosed | Not disclosed |
Performance Compensation
- No performance-based compensation elements (RSUs/PSUs/options, metrics, weightings, targets, payouts, vesting) are disclosed for Richard J. Walz in GDV’s proxy statements, which do not present officer-level incentive plan details for Fund officers compensated by the Adviser .
| Metric | Weighting | Target | Actual | Payout | Vesting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Not disclosed for Fund CCO | — | — | — | — | — |
Equity Ownership & Alignment
- Beneficial ownership for Walz has been reported as zero common shares in each proxy year shown; with no reported ownership, there is no indication of pledging or hedging by Walz in GDV shares. An asterisk in the ownership tables denotes holdings of less than 1% of shares outstanding; executive officers as a group also constitute less than 1% in the periods reported .
| Metric | 2020 (as of 12/31/20) | 2021 (as of 12/31/21) | 2022 (as of 12/31/22) | 2023 (as of 12/31/23) | 2024 (as of 12/31/24) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Common Shares Owned | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| % of Common Shares Outstanding | <1% (asterisked) | <1% (asterisked) | <1% (asterisked) | <1% (asterisked) | <1% (asterisked) |
| Preferred Shares Owned | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Notes on Pledging/Hedging | No shares reported; no pledging indicated in proxy tables | No shares reported; no pledging indicated | No shares reported; no pledging indicated | No shares reported; no pledging indicated | No shares reported; no pledging indicated |
Additional ownership context:
- Section 16(a) compliance: GDV states that officers/trustees and other insiders complied with applicable filing requirements during 2023 based on the Fund’s review of Forms 3 and 4 filed electronically .
Employment Terms
- Appointment/role: Chief Compliance Officer of registered investment companies in the Gabelli Fund Complex since 2013 (for GDV, officer information appears in the officer roster) .
- Employment agreement, severance, and change-of-control: GDV’s proxy statements do not discuss individual employment contracts, severance multiples, change‑of‑control triggers, or related terms for Walz; such arrangements (if any) would pertain to employment with the Adviser rather than the Fund and are not presented in GDV’s DEF 14A .
- Clawbacks, non-compete/non-solicit, garden leave: Not addressed for Fund officers in GDV’s DEF 14A .
Investment Implications
- Long-tenured compliance leadership: Walz’s continuous service as CCO since 2013 suggests institutional compliance continuity and lower execution risk in the Fund’s regulatory framework .
- Limited alignment via equity: With no reported beneficial ownership in GDV across multiple years, Walz has minimal direct economic alignment with GDV common or preferred shareholders; there is also no insider selling pressure from Walz given zero reported holdings .
- Pay-for-performance signals unavailable: Because GDV reports only Trustee and any Fund-paid officer compensation (and Walz is not Fund-paid), investors lack transparency into his fixed/variable pay mix, performance metrics, vesting schedules, or severance/CIC economics—reducing the utility of compensation-based trading signals for this executive .
- Governance/insider compliance: The Fund reported full Section 16(a) compliance for relevant insiders in 2023, indicating no procedural red flags from late or missing ownership filings in that period .