Daniel J. Beckman

About Daniel J. Beckman

Daniel J. Beckman (year of birth: 1962) is the Fund’s President and Principal Executive Officer (since June 2021) and a Director (since November 2021). He has extensive investment company and product strategy experience, having served as Vice President and Head of North America Product at Columbia Management Investment Advisers, LLC (2015–2023); he also serves as President of Ameriprise Trust Company (since July 2024) and Director of Columbia Management Investment Distributors, Inc. (since November 2018) . The Board is chaired by an Independent Director and met 5 times in FY 2024; each incumbent Director attended at least 75% of Board and Committee meetings in 2024 . The Board specifically cites benefits of Mr. Beckman’s dual role as a senior officer of the Manager serving on the Fund’s Board—facilitating communication and aligning Manager interests with stockholders—while maintaining committee structures composed solely of Independent Directors to preserve oversight independence .

Past Roles

External Roles

Fixed Compensation

• Manager-affiliated officers and interested Directors (including Mr. Beckman) are not compensated by the Fund; only the Fund’s CCO has a portion of compensation paid by the funds in the complex .
• Independent Director compensation schedule (effective Jan 1, 2025) :
  • Annual retainer (excluding Chair): $275,000
  • Committee Chair retainer: $25,000
  • Sub-committee Chair retainer: $15,000
  • Meeting fees: $6,000/day (in-person Board); $3,000/day (in-person committee/sub-committee, if not same day); $3,000 per special virtual meeting
  • Additional annual fee from the two Closed-End Funds: $10,000
  • Board Chair total annual cash compensation: $575,000, plus $10,000 from Closed-End Funds and $3,000 per special virtual meeting

Performance Compensation

• The Fund does not provide equity awards (RSUs/PSUs/options) or bonus structures to Manager-affiliated officers; no Fund-linked performance metrics, vesting schedules, or severance/change-of-control economics are disclosed for Fund officers. Independent Director compensation and deferral mechanics are disclosed, but not applicable to Mr. Beckman as an interested Director .

Equity Ownership & Alignment

• Directors and officers of the Fund as a group beneficially own less than 1% of STK’s Common Stock (as of each reporting date) .

Employment Terms

• Role start dates and election mechanics:
  • President & Principal Executive Officer since June 2021; Director since November 2021 .
  • Directors serve three-year staggered terms; Mr. Beckman is nominated for a term ending 2028 (2025–2028) and Directors are elected by majority vote of votes entitled to be cast .
  • Officers are elected by the Board, serve at its pleasure, and are responsible for day-to-day business decisions; officers serve until successors are elected and qualify or earlier resignation .
• Severance/change-of-control/clawback/pledging/hedging policies: No Fund-level disclosures for Manager-affiliated officers; no pledging/hedging policy disclosures identified in the proxy .

Board Service and Governance (committee roles and dual-role implications)

• Independence and committee roles:
  • Mr. Beckman is an Interested Director affiliated with the Investment Manager; he has no committee assignments (all committees are comprised solely of Independent Directors) .
  • The Board asserts that a senior Manager officer on the Board facilitates communication and aligns Manager interests with stockholders; the Chair is an Independent Director .
• Attendance and activity:
  • Each incumbent Director attended at least 75% of Board and Committee meetings in 2024 .
  • Board met 5 times in FY 2024 and 4 times in FY 2023 .
• Committee activity levels:

  Committee	FY 2023 Meetings	FY 2024 Meetings
  Audit	7	6
  Board Governance	6	6
  Compliance	5	4
  Contracts	5	5
  Investment Review	5	4

Director Compensation Context (independents; for benchmarking)

• Total Directors’ fees paid by the Fund to independent Directors:

  Metric	FY 2019	FY 2021	FY 2023	FY 2024
  Aggregate Direct Remuneration (Fund-level)	$26,903	$31,923	$31,981	$36,193

• Examples of total compensation across the Columbia Funds Complex (select independent Directors; FY 2024):

  Name	Aggregate Compensation From STK	Total Compensation From Fund + Complex
  Pamela G. Carlton	$3,619 (with $362 deferred from STK)	$560,000
  Douglas A. Hacker	$3,619	$426,000
  Sandra L. Yeager	$3,619 (with $1,810 deferred from STK)	$448,000

Note: Mr. Beckman, as an Interested Director affiliated with the Manager, is not compensated by the Fund .

Investment Implications

• Alignment: Mr. Beckman’s STK ownership is disclosed only as a dollar range ($10k–$50k) and directors/officers collectively own <1% of STK—indicating limited direct equity alignment at the Fund level; his aggregate holdings across the Columbia Funds Complex exceed $100k (including deferred compensation), but no share counts or percentages are disclosed .
• Governance/independence: His dual role as President/PEO of STK and senior Manager officer provides a communication conduit and potential alignment with the Manager’s interests; independence is safeguarded by an Independent Chair and independent-only committees (he holds no committee posts) .
• Compensation/retention: With no Fund-paid executive compensation and no disclosed severance/CIC economics, retention levers for Mr. Beckman are driven by his roles and compensation within the Manager’s corporate structure (Ameriprise/Columbia affiliates), where he has held multiple leadership positions since 2015—supporting continuity of Fund oversight .
• Trading signals: Lack of Fund-linked performance pay, low disclosed Fund equity ownership, and no reported pledging/hedging or insider sale cadence in Fund documents suggest minimal near-term insider-selling pressure signals from Mr. Beckman specifically; governance stability is supported by regular committee activity and re-nomination to a 2025–2028 term .