Joseph T. Castro
About Joseph T. Castro
Joseph T. Castro (born 1964) serves as Vice President of Nuveen Municipal Credit Income Fund (NZF) with an indefinite term and length of service since 2025; he is Executive Vice President and Chief Risk and Compliance Officer at Nuveen, formerly Senior Managing Director and Head of Compliance at Nuveen, and Senior Managing Director at Nuveen Fund Advisors, LLC and Nuveen Securities, LLC . Officers of the Funds receive no compensation from the Funds; compensation for certain compliance roles (e.g., CCO) is paid by the Adviser, with the Funds reimbursing an allocable portion of the Adviser’s cost of the CCO’s incentive compensation . The proxy does not disclose individual executive performance metrics (e.g., TSR, revenue growth, EBITDA growth) linked to Mr. Castro’s compensation for the Fund; Fund officers are adviser employees and not compensated by the Funds .
Past Roles
| Organization | Role | Years | Strategic Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nuveen | Executive Vice President, Chief Risk and Compliance Officer | Not disclosed | Enterprise oversight of risk and compliance across Nuveen |
| Nuveen | Senior Managing Director and Head of Compliance | Not disclosed | Led compliance function; policy, controls, regulatory oversight |
| Nuveen Fund Advisors, LLC; Nuveen Securities, LLC; Nuveen, LLC | Senior Managing Director | Not disclosed | Senior leadership across adviser and distribution entities |
External Roles
- Not disclosed in NZF proxy or 8-K filings for Mr. Castro .
Fixed Compensation
| Component | Disclosure |
|---|---|
| Base salary | Officers receive no compensation from the Funds; officers are paid by Nuveen/Adviser (not disclosed at individual level in Fund proxy) . |
| Target bonus % | Not disclosed at Fund level (officers not compensated by the Funds) . |
| Actual bonus | Not disclosed at Fund level (officers not compensated by the Funds) . |
| CCO/Compliance incentives | CCO compensation (base + incentive) is paid by the Adviser; Funds reimburse Adviser for an allocable portion of the CCO’s incentive compensation . |
| Perquisites | Not disclosed for officers at Fund level . |
| Pension/SERP/Deferred comp | Not disclosed for officers; Board Members have a Deferred Compensation Plan, but Funds have no retirement or pension plans . |
Performance Compensation
| Incentive Type | Metric | Weighting | Target | Actual | Payout | Vesting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RSUs/PSUs | Not disclosed | — | — | — | — | — |
| Options | Not disclosed | — | — | — | — | — |
| Cash incentive | Not disclosed at Fund level for officers | — | — | — | — | — |
Officers are adviser employees and the Fund does not disclose their individual equity/cash incentives or vesting schedules .
Equity Ownership & Alignment
| Item | Disclosure |
|---|---|
| Total beneficial ownership (group) | Board Members and officers as a group beneficially owned less than 1% of outstanding shares of each Fund as of June 20, 2025 . |
| NZF shares owned (group) | 28,757 NZF shares owned by Board Members and officers as a group (as of May 31, 2025) . |
| Individual ownership (Castro) | Not disclosed individually in proxy . |
| Ownership guidelines | Governance principle applies to Board Members (expected to invest at least one year of compensation in the Nuveen fund complex); no officer-specific ownership guideline disclosed . |
| Pledging/Hedging by executives | Not disclosed for officers; Board/committee oversight references investment risk techniques like hedging at the fund level, not personal pledging/hedging policies . |
| Options/RSUs exercisable/unexercisable | Not disclosed for officers at Fund level . |
Employment Terms
| Term | Disclosure |
|---|---|
| Employment start date | Listed as “Length of Service: Since 2025” for Vice President of the Funds . |
| Contract term/expiration | Officers have indefinite terms; no individual employment agreement or severance/CIC terms disclosed for Mr. Castro at Fund level . |
| Severance multiples | Not disclosed . |
| Change-in-control (single vs double trigger) | Not disclosed . |
| Accelerated vesting | Not disclosed . |
| Clawbacks | Not disclosed at officer level; Funds reference compliance oversight generally . |
| Non-compete/non-solicit/garden leave | Not disclosed . |
| Post-termination consulting | Not disclosed . |
Performance & Track Record
- Role tenure: Vice President of the Funds since 2025; principal occupation as EVP, Chief Risk and Compliance Officer at Nuveen .
- Fund-level performance metrics (TSR, NAV growth) and executive-specific achievements/controversies are not discussed in the proxy for officers; the Fund’s proxy centers on governance, board elections, committee activity, and audit matters .
Risk Indicators & Red Flags
- Section 16(a) compliance: The Funds state Board Members and officers complied with applicable Section 16(a) filing requirements in the last fiscal year and the previous fiscal year .
- Say-on-Pay: Not applicable (closed-end fund; officers are not compensated by the Funds) .
- Related-party transactions, tax gross-ups, repricing/modification of awards: Not disclosed for officers .
Compensation Peer Group & Shareholder Feedback
- Compensation peer group/benchmarking: Not applicable for Fund officers (officers are adviser employees; Fund does not report officer compensation peer groups) .
- Say-on-pay approval rates and shareholder proposals regarding compensation: Not applicable/not disclosed; proxy focuses on board elections and fund governance .
Board Governance (Context)
- Mr. Castro is not a Board Member; he is listed among Fund officers (no compensation from Funds) .
- Board and committee structures, leadership, and compensation detail apply to Independent Board Members; extensive committee oversight exists (Audit, Compliance, Investment, Dividend, Nominating, Closed-End) .
- Independent Board Member compensation is detailed (e.g., retainers, committee fees), but does not apply to Fund officers like Mr. Castro .
Investment Implications
- Pay-for-performance linkage cannot be evaluated at the Fund level for Mr. Castro because officers are not compensated by the Funds and adviser-level compensation terms are not disclosed in the proxy .
- Alignment via personal ownership is limited in disclosure; only group-level holdings are provided and are under 1% of shares outstanding, with 28,757 NZF shares held by Board Members and officers as a group as of May 31, 2025, suggesting limited direct insider ownership signals at the Fund level .
- Retention risk, severance/CIC economics, pledging/hedging, and vesting schedules are not disclosed for officers—reducing visibility into potential insider selling pressure or incentive alignment at the Fund level; monitoring adviser-level disclosures or Form 4 filings would be necessary to assess these levers, but they are not present in the Fund’s proxy materials .