Marc Cardella
About Marc Cardella
Marc Cardella serves as Vice President and Controller (Principal Financial Officer) of Nuveen Municipal High Income Opportunity Fund (NMZ). He was born in 1984 and has served in this role since 2024; his principal occupation over the past five years includes Senior Managing Director, Head of Public Investment Finance at Nuveen and senior roles across Nuveen Fund Advisors, Nuveen Asset Management, Teachers Advisors, and TIAA-CREF Investment Management . Education: Wake Forest University – Babcock Graduate School of Management (LinkedIn profile) . Officers of the Nuveen funds receive no compensation from the Funds and are elected by the Board annually to serve until successors are elected and qualified .
Past Roles
| Organization | Role | Years | Strategic Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nuveen (a TIAA company) | Senior Managing Director, Head of Public Investment Finance | Past 5 years | Leads public investment finance across Nuveen affiliate complex, supporting fund financial operations and controls . |
| Nuveen Fund Advisors, LLC; Nuveen Asset Management, LLC | Senior Managing Director | Past 5 years | Senior leadership across adviser and asset management entities; cross-functional finance oversight . |
| Teachers Advisors, LLC; TIAA-CREF Investment Management, LLC | Senior Managing Director | Past 5 years | Finance leadership supporting registered funds and separate accounts . |
| TIAA Separate Account VA-1; College Retirement Equities Fund (CREF) | Principal Financial Officer, Principal Accounting Officer, and Treasurer | Past 5 years | Statutory finance/accounting leadership for insurance separate account and CREF registered funds . |
External Roles
| Entity | Role | Years | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nuveen Real Asset Income and Growth Fund (JRI) | Vice President and Controller (Principal Financial Officer) | Filing dated Nov 17, 2025 | Role and signature indicated in Form N-2 filing . |
| Nuveen Dynamic Municipal Opportunities Fund (NDMO – joint proxy includes NMZ) | Vice President and Controller (Principal Financial Officer) | Filing dated Jun 30, 2025 | Role disclosed in joint proxy statement including NMZ . |
| Nuveen Quality Municipal Income Fund (NAD – joint proxy includes NMZ) | Vice President and Controller (Principal Financial Officer) | Filing dated Jun 30, 2025 | Role disclosed in joint proxy statement including NMZ . |
Fixed Compensation
- Officers receive no compensation from the Funds; compensation is paid by Nuveen and affiliates, not disclosed at the fund level .
- No disclosure of base salary, target/actual bonus, option awards, RSUs/PSUs, severance, or change-of-control terms for fund officers in NMZ proxy materials .
Performance Compensation
- Not disclosed at the fund level for officers. The proxy states officers receive no compensation from the Funds, implying no fund-linked performance incentive schedules are reported for Marc Cardella .
Equity Ownership & Alignment
| Ownership Item | Status/Value | As-of | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial insider status (Form 3) | Filed by Marc Cardella | Dec 3, 2024 | |
| Individual NMZ share count | Not disclosed in proxy; Form 3 filed (shares not extracted here) | Dec 3, 2024 | |
| Form 4 transactions (Cardella) | None found on NMZ filings page | Through Nov 18, 2025 | |
| Officers + Board as a group beneficial ownership of each fund | Less than 1% of outstanding shares of each fund | Jun 20, 2025 | |
| Pledging/Hedging | No pledging or hedging disclosures for officers in NMZ proxy | 2025 proxy |
Note: The NMZ proxy provides group-level ownership disclosure; individual officer holdings are typically reported via Section 16 filings. Cardella’s Form 3 confirms reporting status but share detail is not captured here from the filing index pages .
Employment Terms
- Title/Capacity: Vice President and Controller (Principal Financial Officer) .
- Term and Tenure: Term indefinite; length of service since 2024; officers are elected annually by the Board to serve until successors are elected and qualified .
- Compensation & Contracts: Officers receive no compensation from the Funds; no fund-level disclosures of employment agreements, severance, change-of-control, or clawbacks for officers .
- Cross-Complex Service: Holds PFO/controller roles and signs filings across multiple Nuveen closed-end funds and registered funds, evidencing multi-entity responsibilities within the Fund Complex .
Investment Implications
- Compensation alignment and pay-for-performance levers at the fund level are minimal: officers receive no compensation from NMZ, so fund TSR/NAV performance does not directly affect Cardella’s fund-reported pay, reducing typical pay-performance signals for investors .
- Insider selling pressure appears low: Cardella filed a Form 3 in Dec 2024, and no subsequent Form 4 transactions are listed for him on the NMZ filings page through Nov 2025, limiting near-term trading-signal catalysts tied to his activity .
- Skin-in-the-game appears limited at the aggregate governance level: Board Members and executive officers as a group beneficially owned less than 1% of the outstanding shares of each fund as of June 20, 2025, suggesting low direct equity alignment for fund insiders, including officers .
- Retention and execution risk likely hinge on enterprise-level (Nuveen/TIAA) employment and workload across the Fund Complex: Cardella’s multi-fund PFO/controller roles and signatures on numerous filings indicate institutional anchoring and broad responsibilities, but detailed employment terms (non-compete, severance, CoC) are not disclosed at the fund level, constraining direct assessment of retention economics .