Brian Link

About Brian Link

Brian F. Link (52) is Secretary of The Taiwan Fund, Inc. (TWN), a role he has held since 2014; his principal occupation is Managing Director and Managing Counsel at State Street Bank and Trust Company (2022–present; previously Vice President and Managing Counsel, 2007–2022) . He is named as the Fund’s Secretary on proxy materials and serves as the contact on multiple Fund press releases and meeting notices . The Fund’s day-to-day operations are performed by third-party service providers—Nomura Asset Management U.S.A. Inc. as Adviser and State Street Bank and Trust Company as Administrator—rather than by Fund employees . The DEF 14A proxies disclose director compensation and officer identities/affiliations, but they do not disclose officer compensation details, performance metrics (e.g., TSR, revenue, EBITDA) tied to officer pay, or equity awards for officers .

Past Roles

External Roles

• No external public company board roles or committee positions for Link are disclosed in the DEF 14A; his principal occupation is with State Street Bank and Trust Company .

Fixed Compensation

• Officer compensation for the Fund’s officers (including the Secretary) is not disclosed in the DEF 14A; the proxy provides compensation data for directors only, and lists officers’ employers and roles without pay details .
• Governance context: day-to-day operations are performed by third-party service providers (Adviser and Administrator), indicating officers are employees of those providers rather than Fund employees; compensation for officers employed by the Adviser is covered under the advisory agreement (Adviser pays salaries/expenses of officers who are Adviser employees), while State Street acts as Administrator for the Fund .

Performance Compensation

• No performance-based metrics, pay mix, or incentive plan details are disclosed for Fund officers; proxies do not present payouts, targets, or vesting schedules for officers (director cash fees only are disclosed) .

Equity Ownership & Alignment

• Officer-level share ownership for Link is not disclosed in the DEF 14A; the proxy provides only director ownership ranges and beneficial owners of >5% of shares .
• Major beneficial owners as of record dates: City of London (39.44% in 2025), Lazard Asset Management (17.04%), Allspring Global Investments (11.99%), OPERS (5.05%) ; City of London (37.15% in 2024), Lazard (16.31%), Allspring (11.61%), 1607 Capital Partners (9.05%) .
• No pledging/hedging policy disclosures for officers and no officer equity award data are included in the proxy .

Employment Terms

Investment Implications

• Compensation alignment: Link’s role is administrative/legal as an employee of the Administrator; officer compensation is not disclosed or tied to Fund performance in the proxy, suggesting limited direct pay-for-performance alignment at the Fund level for this role .
• Insider selling pressure: No officer equity grants, options, or vesting schedules are disclosed; proxies do not provide Form 4 activity for officers. Monitoring SEC ownership filings separately is recommended as proxies are limited to director compensation and officer identities .
• Retention risk: As employment is with State Street (Administrator) rather than the Fund, retention risk is more a function of the service provider; no Fund-level employment terms or severance/change-of-control economics for Link are disclosed .
• Governance context: The Fund operates via third-party providers with Board oversight; key committees (Audit, Nominating, Valuation, Discount Management) are staffed by independent directors, with regular meetings and attendance noted—officer compensation is outside these committee disclosures .
• Ownership alignment: The Fund’s shareholder base is concentrated among institutional holders (e.g., City of London), but no officer-level ownership is disclosed for Link; thus, no skin-in-the-game indicators (pledging, guidelines compliance) can be assessed from the proxy .