Adam Henkel
About Adam Henkel
Adam Henkel is Assistant General Counsel and Secretary for Invesco QQQ Trust, Series 1 (QQQ), responsible for product strategy and governance across Invesco’s U.S. ETFs and related registered products; he has served as Secretary for QQQ since 2020 and as Assistant General Counsel since 2024 . He was born in 1980 and is based in the Greater Chicago area . His academic credentials include a JD from Northwestern University School of Law and undergraduate degrees (BS, BA) from Northwestern University . QQQ is an ETF that seeks to track the Nasdaq-100 Index, and operates without traditional corporate revenue/EBITDA targets; the trust’s current strategic focus is conversion from a UIT to an open‑end fund with a lower expense ratio (0.18% vs 0.20%), a change led by Invesco and executed through the proxy proposals .
Past Roles
| Organization | Role | Years | Strategic Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Invesco Capital Management LLC | Head of Legal – US ETFs; later Assistant General Counsel | 2020–2024 (Head of Legal), 2024–Present (AGC) | Led legal and regulatory oversight for the full US ETF lineup; governance and compliance across ETF trusts |
| Invesco Ltd./PowerShares | Senior Counsel | 2013–2020 | End-to-end ETF legal support incl. creation, management, regulation; interim CCO for US ETFs in 2017 |
| US Bancorp Fund Services, LLC | Assistant Vice President | 2010–2013 | Drafted legal documents, exemptive relief and policies for commodity pools, ETFs, mutual funds |
| Chapman and Cutler LLP | Associate (Investment Management) | 2005–2010 | Mutual fund/ETF registration and regulation; broker-dealer/adviser compliance (AML, advertising, soft dollars) |
External Roles
| Organization | Role | Years | Strategic Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| International Bar Association (Globalisation of Investment Funds Conference) | Speaker (Crypto funds – retail in North America) | May 2022 | Public expertise on ETF/UIT structures, regulatory frameworks, and retail access to crypto funds |
Equity Ownership & Alignment
| Metric | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Beneficial ownership (% of QQQ outstanding) | <1% | Each trustee nominee and proposed executive officer, individually, owned less than 1% of QQQ as of June 30, 2025 . |
| Role in trust execution | Secretary and signatory | Frequently attests and signs trust instruments and agreements (e.g., conversion documentation and service agreements) . |
Employment Terms
- Current title and capacity: Secretary of QQQ (since 2020) and Assistant General Counsel at Invesco Capital Management LLC (since 2024) .
- Responsibilities span multiple Invesco ETF trusts (ETF Trust I/II, India, Active, Commodity, Self-Indexed) and affiliated entities (Invesco Capital Markets, The Invesco Funds, Invesco Indexing LLC, Invesco Investment Advisers LLC) .
- Contractual and severance/COC economics: Not disclosed for officers of QQQ (the DEF 14A focuses on board election, advisory agreement, and trust governance; officer employment contracts and severance terms are not provided) .
Compensation Structure Notes
- Officer compensation (base salary, bonus, equity awards) for Adam Henkel is not disclosed in QQQ’s DEF 14A; the filing details board compensation framework and trust expense structure but does not present officer pay elements .
- QQQ’s proposed unitary fee model shifts trust expenses (including board fees, index licensing, admin/custody) to the adviser’s 0.18% fee; marketing costs become adviser-borne. This is a fund-level economics change rather than an individual officer compensation disclosure .
Governance Context Relevant to Role
- Governance transition: QQQ seeks conversion from a UIT overseen by a bank trustee to an open‑end fund with a board of individual trustees and Invesco as adviser; Adam Henkel is listed among designated signatories/attestations for instruments executing the change .
- Board committees (Audit, Investment Oversight, Nominating & Governance) and independent chair structure are set for the post‑conversion model, but Adam serves as an officer (Secretary), not as a trustee .
Performance & Track Record
- Product/strategy execution: Legal oversight for ETF operations and governance across Invesco ETF complexes; interim CCO role in 2017 indicates compliance leadership in regulated products .
- QQQ fund-level performance metrics (TSR) are not disclosed in the DEF 14A; as an index-tracking ETF, QQQ’s mandate is to replicate Nasdaq‑100 results while improving operating efficiency via conversion and fee reduction .
Investment Implications
- Compensation alignment: Absence of disclosed officer pay/vesting data limits pay‑for‑performance analysis; governance improvements (board oversight, 15(c) advisory reviews) may indirectly strengthen accountability, but do not provide trading signals tied to Henkel’s compensation .
- Retention risk: Multi‑entity responsibilities and tenure across Invesco’s ETF trusts suggest institutional embedment; no severance/COC terms disclosed for officers to quantify retention economics .
- Insider activity pressure: No Form 4 or pledging disclosures are presented for QQQ officers in the proxy; beneficial ownership is de minimis (<1%), reducing alignment through equity stakes but typical for ETF trust officers .
- Trading signals: The salient lever is fund economics—expense ratio cut to 18 bps and potential operational benefits (custom baskets, securities lending) post‑conversion; these are product‑level drivers rather than executive‑specific incentives .