Brett Black
About Brett Black
Brett E. Black serves as Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer of Nuveen Municipal Credit Opportunities Fund (NMCO), with a year of birth listed as 1972 and business address 333 West Wacker Drive, Chicago, IL 60606 . He has served as an officer of the Funds since 2022, and concurrently is Managing Director and Chief Compliance Officer of Nuveen; prior to Nuveen he was Vice President (2014–2022), Chief Compliance Officer and Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Officer (2017–2022), and Deputy Chief Compliance Officer (2014–2017) of BMO Funds, Inc. . The proxy states officers receive no compensation from the Funds and are elected annually by the Board, so no fund-level pay-for-performance metrics or fund equity compensation is disclosed for officers such as Mr. Black . As of the most recent proxy, the Board Members and executive officers as a group beneficially owned less than 1% of NMCO outstanding shares, and each Board Member’s individual holdings in each Fund were less than 1% (officer-level individual holdings are not itemized) .
Past Roles
| Organization | Role | Years | Strategic impact/notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nuveen | Managing Director; Chief Compliance Officer | 2022–present | Listed as Managing Director and Chief Compliance Officer of Nuveen while serving as NMCO’s Chief Compliance Officer . |
| BMO Funds, Inc. | Vice President | 2014–2022 | Senior compliance leadership role prior to joining Nuveen . |
| BMO Funds, Inc. | Chief Compliance Officer; Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Officer | 2017–2022 | Led fund CCO and AML compliance functions . |
| BMO Funds, Inc. | Deputy Chief Compliance Officer | 2014–2017 | Deputy leadership within compliance organization . |
External Roles
No public company board positions or external directorships are disclosed for Mr. Black in NMCO’s proxy (officer biography lists only Nuveen and prior BMO roles) .
Fixed Compensation
| Component | Disclosure |
|---|---|
| Fund-paid base salary | Officers receive no compensation from the Funds . |
| Fund-paid target/actual bonus | Officers receive no compensation from the Funds . |
| Fund-paid perquisites (aircraft, security, relocation, etc.) | Not disclosed; officers receive no compensation from the Funds . |
| Pension/SERP/Deferred compensation at Fund | Not disclosed; officers receive no compensation from the Funds . |
Note: Officer compensation, if any, is paid by Nuveen/TIAA affiliates and is not disclosed in NMCO’s proxy; therefore, no base salary, bonus, or perquisite amounts are available at the Fund level .
Performance Compensation
| Metric | Weighting | Target | Actual | Payout | Vesting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| None disclosed for Fund officers | — | — | — | — | — |
| Officers are not compensated by the Fund and the proxy does not disclose officer performance metrics or incentive design at the Fund level . |
Equity Ownership & Alignment
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Individual beneficial ownership (Brett Black) | Not itemized in proxy; officers’ individual holdings not provided . |
| Officers + Board Members as a group | Less than 1% of outstanding shares as of Feb. 18, 2025 . |
| Each Board Member individual holdings | Less than 1% of outstanding shares of each Fund as of Feb. 18, 2025 . |
| Pledging/hedging by officers | Not disclosed in the proxy for officers . |
| Ownership guidelines | The Nuveen Funds boards expect each Board Member (not officers) to invest at least one year of Board compensation in Nuveen Funds, directly or on a deferred basis . |
Insider transactions (context for selling/buying pressure)
- No NMCO Form 4 transactions by Brett Black are reported over the past 18 months per GuruFocus’ aggregation (indicating no insider selling pressure from him at NMCO) .
- On Sep 11, 2025, Vice President & Treasurer Nathaniel T. Jones purchased 800 NMCO common shares at $10.82; following the transaction he held 1,800 shares directly (independent of Mr. Black) .
Employment Terms
| Term | Disclosure |
|---|---|
| Title | Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer . |
| Term of office | Indefinite; officers are elected by the Board on an annual basis to serve until successors are elected and qualified . |
| Length of service with Funds | Since 2022 . |
| Employer of record | Managing Director and Chief Compliance Officer of Nuveen (officer position at the Fund is concurrent with Nuveen role) . |
| Employment agreement, severance, or change-of-control terms | Not disclosed at the Fund level; officer compensation/agreements are not paid or made by the Fund . |
| Non-compete / non-solicit / garden leave | Not disclosed at the Fund level . |
| Clawbacks/tax gross-ups related to Fund compensation | Not applicable; officers receive no compensation from the Funds . |
Investment Implications
- Pay-for-performance linkage at the Fund level is not applicable for Mr. Black since officers receive no compensation from NMCO; there are no Fund-based cash incentives, RSUs/PSUs, options, or vesting schedules disclosed for officers, which limits direct alignment via Fund equity but also minimizes dilution and selling pressure from officer grants .
- Ownership alignment signals are limited: the proxy provides only group-level ownership (officers and Board Members together <1% of shares), and does not disclose individual officer holdings or pledging; absence of pledging disclosure and minimal group ownership suggest no concentration risk from officer holdings but also limited personal stake visibility for Mr. Black .
- Retention and contract risk cannot be assessed from Fund filings; officers have indefinite terms and are appointed annually by the Board, and any severance or change-of-control economics would reside with Nuveen/TIAA and are not disclosed in NMCO’s proxy .
- Trading signal: No reported NMCO trading by Mr. Black in the past 18 months (no Form 4s), while another officer (Treasurer) made open-market purchases; this indicates no selling pressure from Mr. Black and a modest insider buy signal elsewhere in the officer group, though not attributable to him .
References: NMCO DEF 14A (Mar 4, 2025) officer table and compensation statement ; group-level ownership disclosure ; NMCO DEF 14A (Feb 27, 2024) Board investment expectation ; NMCO Form 4 (Nathaniel T. Jones) ; GuruFocus insider summary for Brett Black .