Brian H. Lawrence
About Brian H. Lawrence
Brian H. Lawrence serves as Vice President and Assistant Secretary of Nuveen Municipal Credit Income Fund (NZF), with an indefinite term and service since 2023. He is a Vice President and Associate General Counsel at Nuveen; he also serves as Vice President, Associate General Counsel and Assistant Secretary at Teachers Advisors, LLC and TIAA‑CREF Investment Management, LLC; previously he was Corporate Counsel at Franklin Templeton (2018–2022). Born in 1982, his background is legal and regulatory, focused on fund governance and compliance operations across Nuveen/TIAA’s public investment products. Officers of the Funds receive no compensation from the Funds, and the filings do not disclose fund‑level performance metrics (TSR, revenue, EBITDA) attributable to fund officers.
Past Roles
| Organization | Role | Years | Strategic Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Franklin Templeton | Corporate Counsel | 2018–2022 | Supported legal/compliance for investment products; governance and regulatory affairs at a large asset manager. |
| Nuveen (and Nuveen Fund Advisors LLC / Nuveen Asset Management LLC) | Vice President and Associate General Counsel (current) | Since 2023 | Legal leadership and assistant secretary responsibilities supporting fund governance, filings, and compliance across public investment finance. |
| Teachers Advisors, LLC; TIAA‑CREF Investment Management, LLC | Vice President, Associate General Counsel and Assistant Secretary (current) | Since 2023 | Legal and assistant secretary roles supporting TIAA public products and fund complexes, aligned with Nuveen/TIAA operating model. |
External Roles
No public company directorships, committee roles, or external board positions are disclosed for Brian H. Lawrence in NZF filings.
Fixed Compensation
- Officers serve without any compensation from the Funds (no fund‑level base salary, bonus, or equity reported). The CCO’s compensation is paid by the Adviser and partially reimbursed by the Funds; no other officer compensation detail is provided.
Performance Compensation
- No fund‑level performance compensation (RSUs/PSUs/options, metric weighting, vesting schedules, or payouts) is disclosed for fund officers.
Equity Ownership & Alignment
- Individual officer beneficial ownership in NZF is not itemized; the filings state that each Board Member’s individual beneficial shareholdings constitute less than 1% of any Fund, and Board Members and executive officers as a group beneficially owned less than 1% of each Fund.
Group beneficial ownership (Board Members and officers as a group) – NZF:
| Metric | May 31, 2024 | May 31, 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Group holdings in NZF (“Credit Income”) – shares | 11,426 | 28,757 |
| Group holdings as % of shares outstanding | <1% | <1% |
- Pledging/hedging: Not disclosed for officers.
- Stock ownership guidelines: A governance principle exists for Board Members to invest at least one year of compensation in Nuveen funds, but no comparable guideline is disclosed for officers.
Employment Terms
| Item | Disclosure |
|---|---|
| Role | Vice President and Assistant Secretary (Fund officer) |
| Term length | Indefinite; officers are elected annually by the Board to serve until successors are elected and qualified. |
| Start date / tenure | Service since 2023. |
| Contract details | No employment contract, auto‑renewal, non‑compete, non‑solicit, or garden leave terms disclosed at fund level. |
| Severance / change‑of‑control | Not disclosed for fund officers. |
| Clawbacks / tax gross‑ups | Not disclosed for fund officers. |
Investment Implications
- Pay‑for‑performance alignment at the fund level is limited for officers: NZF’s proxies disclose no salary, bonus, or equity awards for officers; compensation occurs at the Adviser level (Nuveen/TIAA) and is not detailed here. This reduces direct fund‑level incentive ties (and insider selling pressure) but obscures retention drivers.
- Ownership alignment appears modest: officer and board group holdings in NZF are de minimis relative to shares outstanding (<1%), and individual officer ownership is not itemized. Absent pledging/hedging disclosures, alignment is neutral to low at the fund level.
- Trading signals: Section 16 compliance is affirmed; no Form 4 patterns for Brian H. Lawrence are discussed in the proxies. The lack of fund‑level equity grants and minimal disclosed ownership reduce actionable insider trading signal value at NZF.
- Retention risk appears tied to Nuveen/TIAA’s broader compensation and career pathing (not disclosed in NZF proxies). Monitoring Nuveen/TIAA organizational changes and legal/compliance leadership turnover would be more informative than NZF filings alone.