William A. Siffermann
About William A. Siffermann
William A. Siffermann (year of birth: 1975) serves as Vice President of Nuveen Variable Rate Preferred & Income Fund (NPFD) and is a Senior Managing Director at Nuveen; his officer term is indefinite and he has served as a fund officer since 2017 . NPFD’s proxy designates him as the Manager of Fund Board Relations contact for shareholder communications to the Board, underscoring his central governance interface role . His background includes an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a BA in Economics from Northwestern University, with prior experience as a derivatives trader at Susquehanna International Group, and he holds the CFA charter . Officers receive no compensation from NPFD (the Fund), so pay-for-performance linkages at the Fund level are not applicable to his compensation; Fund-level TSR/revenue/EBITDA metrics are not tied to his pay in Fund filings .
Past Roles
| Organization | Role | Years | Strategic Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nuveen (a TIAA company) | Managing Director – Fund Board Relations | 2005–present | Leads governance and board relations across mutual funds/CEFs/ETFs, covering 15c contract reviews, product development/management, investment oversight, compliance, risk, legal/regulatory, audit, fund accounting, and distributions . |
| Susquehanna International Group (SIG) | Derivatives Trader | 1997–2004 | Trading and market-making in derivatives; foundation for risk management and product expertise applied in fund governance . |
External Roles
No public company directorships or external committee roles are disclosed in NPFD’s proxy materials; the officer roster lists Siffermann’s Fund role and Nuveen position only .
Fixed Compensation
- Officers receive no compensation from NPFD; officers are elected annually by the Board and serve until successors are elected and qualified .
| Item | NPFD Disclosure |
|---|---|
| Fund-paid base salary | None (officers receive no compensation from the Funds) |
| Fund-paid cash bonus | None |
| Fund-paid perquisites | None |
Performance Compensation
- No performance-linked compensation from NPFD is disclosed for officers; NPFD does not pay its officers .
Equity Ownership & Alignment
| Metric | Disclosure |
|---|---|
| Individual board member ownership of NPFD | Each Board Member’s individual beneficial shareholdings of each Fund were less than 1% of outstanding shares (as of Feb 18, 2025) . |
| Board members and executive officers (group) ownership | Group beneficial ownership of each Fund was less than 1% of outstanding shares (as of Feb 18, 2025) . |
| Officer-specific NPFD holdings | Not individually disclosed in NPFD proxy; officer holdings are aggregated at the group level . |
Additional context:
- The proxy provides detailed dollar-range holdings tables for Board Members across the Nuveen fund complex; Siffermann is not listed individually in those tables as an officer, and ownership for officers is aggregated .
Insider activity in Nuveen funds (outside NPFD):
- Siffermann (as Vice President) reported purchasing 300 shares of Nuveen Quality Municipal Income Fund (NAD), ~$3,481 total value, indicating some personal alignment within the Nuveen fund family (separate fund, not NPFD) .
Employment Terms
| Term Element | NPFD Disclosure |
|---|---|
| Position | Vice President of NPFD |
| Employer role | Senior Managing Director at Nuveen |
| Term of office | Indefinite; officer since 2017 |
| Election/Service | Officers are elected by the Board on an annual basis to serve until successors are elected and qualified |
| Compensation source | Officers receive no compensation from NPFD |
| Board communications liaison | Manager of Fund Board Relations contact for shareholder communications to the Board |
Investment Implications
- Pay-for-performance linkage at NPFD is not applicable to Siffermann; officers are not compensated by the Fund, limiting direct alignment of Fund financial performance to his personal compensation .
- Ownership alignment appears limited at the Fund level: individual Board Members and the group of Board Members/executive officers each are below 1% ownership of NPFD; officer-specific holdings are not disclosed, constraining insider-sentiment signals .
- Governance influence is high: as Vice President and Senior Managing Director of Nuveen, and the shareholder communications liaison, Siffermann is a key node for board processes and fund governance, but NPFD filings do not indicate severance/change-of-control economics, pledging, hedging, or performance metrics tied to his pay—reducing compensation-driven retention risk signals from Fund disclosures .
- External track record and qualifications (MBA, BA, CFA; prior derivatives trading) suggest strong governance and risk management expertise; however, without Fund-linked compensation metrics or disclosed employment contract economics, investor-grade signals for pay alignment and potential selling pressure are limited to broader fund family insider purchases (e.g., NAD) rather than NPFD-specific activity .