Daniel E. Zucchi

About Daniel E. Zucchi

Independent Director of The Gabelli Multimedia Trust Inc. (GGT) since 2019 (year of birth: 1940). He is President of Zucchi & Associates (marketing and communications consulting), and previously served as a Senior Executive at Time Warner and the Hearst Corporation for over 30 years. Education: University of Connecticut; attended the Harvard AAAA program during his tenure at Time Warner. He resides in Jupiter, Florida.

Past Roles

External Roles

Board Governance

• Status: Independent Director under the 1940 Act (the Board states 10 of 12 directors are independent; only Messrs. Mario J. Gabelli and Christopher J. Marangi are “interested persons”) .
• Years of service/term: Director since August 20, 2019; currently serving a term expiring at the 2026 Annual Meeting of Stockholders .
• Committee assignments at GGT: Not listed on Audit or Nominating; Audit Committee members are Birch (Chair), Roeder, Zizza; Nominating Committee members are Fahrenkopf (Chair) and Zizza .
• Lead Independent Director: James P. Conn .
• Attendance: Each Director then serving attended at least 75% of Board meetings and applicable committee meetings in FY 2024 (4 regular quarterly meetings) .
• Annual meeting attendance: The Fund does not expect directors to attend; no Director/nominee attended the May 13, 2024 annual meeting .
• Board risk oversight and executive sessions: Independent directors meet regularly in executive session; risk oversight is handled by the Board and its committees; Audit discusses controls with PwC .

Fixed Compensation

Policy (FY 2024):

• Annual retainer for Independent Directors: $6,000.
• Board meeting fee: $500 per meeting.
• Committee meeting fee: $1,000 per meeting.
• Additional fees: Audit Chair $3,000; Nominating Chair $2,000; Lead Independent Director $2,000.
• A single meeting fee may be allocated across multiple funds for multi-fund meetings .

Director-level amounts:

Interpretation:

• The $8,000 from GGT aligns with the retainer plus four meeting fees (6,000 + 4×500), indicating no incremental committee or chair fees at the fund-level in 2023–2024 .

Performance Compensation

• No equity-based retainers, performance stock, option awards, or performance metrics disclosed for directors. Compensation consists of cash retainer and meeting fees only; no director equity program is disclosed in the proxy .

Other Directorships & Interlocks

• The proxy includes a specific table of Independent Directors’ interests in Adviser-controlled affiliates; it lists holdings for Conn, Fahrenkopf, and Zizza, but does not list Zucchi, suggesting no such interest is disclosed for him .
• The proxy highlights a separate SEC settlement related to Mr. Zizza (another director); no comparable exceptions/red flags are noted for Zucchi in these disclosures .

Expertise & Qualifications

• Core expertise: Marketing and communications leadership; senior operating roles across media (Time Warner, Hearst) .
• Board skills: Governance across multiple registered funds; public company board experience (PMV Consumer Acquisition Corp.) .
• Financial expert designation: Not designated as the Audit Committee Financial Expert (Mr. Birch is designated) .
• Education: University of Connecticut; attended Harvard AAAA program .

Equity Ownership

As of December 31, 2024:

• Dollar range of equity in GGT: A (None).
• Aggregate dollar range across the Family of Investment Companies: E (Over $100,000) .
• Beneficial ownership in GGT: 0 shares; less than 1% of shares outstanding .

Notes: All dollar ranges valued as of December 31, 2024 .

Governance Assessment

• Alignment: No GGT share ownership (A = None) is a potential alignment gap at the fund level, though he holds over $100,000 across the complex (E), which may align interests at the complex level rather than with GGT specifically .
• Board effectiveness: Independent director with consistent ≥75% meeting attendance; however, he holds no committee role at GGT, which limits direct influence on audit, nominations, or pricing matters; this is consistent with his compensation level lacking committee-related fees .
• Conflicts/related-party: The proxy’s affiliate-interests table does not list Zucchi; no related-party exceptions or SEC findings are attributed to him in contrast to a separate disclosure for another director (Zizza) .
• Engagement optics: The Board does not expect annual-meeting attendance, and no directors attended in 2024—neutral by policy but may be viewed as a modest engagement negative by some investors .
• Tenure/continuity: On the Board since 2019; current term runs through the 2026 annual meeting, supporting continuity without signaling over-tenure .

Key watch items (investor confidence signals)

• Fund-level ownership: Encourage minimum GGT share ownership to strengthen alignment (current disclosure: none) .
• Committee involvement: Absence from core committees reduces direct oversight impact; any future assignment (Audit/Nominating) would be a positive governance signal .
• Annual-meeting engagement: While policy does not expect attendance, visible investor engagement can favorably influence sentiment .