Michael E. DeFao
About Michael E. DeFao
Michael E. DeFao is Vice President (since 2011) and Assistant Secretary (since 2010) of Tri-Continental Corporation; he serves concurrently as Vice President and Chief Counsel at Ameriprise Financial, Inc. (since May 2010) and as Vice President, Chief Legal Officer, and Assistant Secretary at Columbia Management Investment Advisers, LLC (since October 2021). He was born in 1968 and is based at 290 Congress Street, Boston, MA, reflecting a long-tenured legal leadership role across the Columbia Funds Complex supporting fund governance and compliance . Officers are elected annually by the Board and serve until their successors are elected and qualify, underscoring the recurring governance cadence for his role .
Past Roles
| Organization | Role | Years | Strategic Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tri-Continental Corporation (TY) | Assistant Secretary | 2010–present | Fund governance and corporate secretarial function supporting Board and regulatory processes . |
| Tri-Continental Corporation (TY) | Vice President | 2011–present | Senior fund officer role within Columbia Funds Complex oversight framework . |
| Columbia Management Investment Advisers, LLC | Vice President and Assistant Secretary | May 2010–Sep 2021 | Legal leadership within the Manager supporting registered funds . |
| Columbia Management Investment Advisers, LLC | Vice President, Chief Legal Officer, and Assistant Secretary | Oct 2021–present | Chief Legal Officer for Manager; oversight of legal/compliance across fund complex . |
External Roles
| Organization | Role | Years | Strategic Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ameriprise Financial, Inc. | Vice President and Chief Counsel | May 2010–present | Senior legal counsel for asset management businesses; supports governance, regulatory compliance, and oversight interfacing with Columbia Funds . |
Fixed Compensation
No compensation is paid by Tri-Continental Corporation to officers who are employees of the Manager or its affiliates (other than the Corporation’s CCO, whose compensation is partially paid by the funds). Accordingly, DeFao’s compensation is paid by Ameriprise/Columbia, not by TY .
| Metric | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| TY cash compensation to Michael E. DeFao | $0 | $0 | $0 |
Performance Compensation
No performance-linked incentives (bonus, RSUs/PSUs, options) are paid by Tri-Continental Corporation to officers employed by the Manager; any incentive compensation for DeFao would be at Ameriprise/Columbia and is not disclosed in TY’s proxy .
| Incentive Type | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| TY performance bonus to Michael E. DeFao | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| TY equity awards (RSUs/PSUs/options) to Michael E. DeFao | $0 | $0 | $0 |
Equity Ownership & Alignment
As of December 31, 2024, Directors and officers of the Corporation as a group beneficially owned less than 1% of the Corporation’s Common Stock and did not own shares of Preferred Stock. Individual officer holdings (including DeFao) are not itemized in the proxy .
| As-of Date | Group Ownership of TY Common | Group Ownership of TY Preferred |
|---|---|---|
| Dec 31, 2024 | <1% of outstanding | 0 shares |
- Director ownership ranges are disclosed by dollar bands; officers’ individual bands are not provided. The proxy also describes a Deferred Compensation Plan applicable to Independent Directors (not officers) .
Employment Terms
| Term Item | Disclosure |
|---|---|
| Officer election cadence | Officers are elected annually by the Board and serve until successors are elected and qualify . |
| TY titles and appointment dates | Assistant Secretary (2010); Vice President (2011) . |
| Principal occupations (past five years) | Ameriprise Vice President and Chief Counsel (since May 2010); Columbia Management Investment Advisers Vice President, Chief Legal Officer, and Assistant Secretary (since Oct 2021) . |
Investment Implications
- Pay-for-performance linkage at TY is limited for DeFao because the Corporation pays no officer compensation to Manager-affiliated employees; compensation levers (cash/equity, performance metrics, clawbacks) sit at Ameriprise/Columbia and are not disclosed in TY’s proxy .
- Alignment via direct TY equity appears modest at the corporate level: Directors and officers as a group own <1% of common and no preferred; individual officer holdings are not broken out, constraining “skin-in-the-game” analysis for DeFao specifically .
- Tenure and role continuity (Assistant Secretary since 2010; Vice President since 2011) signal operational stability in legal/governance functions for the fund complex .
- For trading signals around insider pressure or pledging, TY’s proxy does not disclose officer-level pledging/hedging policies or Form 4 activity. Consider monitoring SEC Form 4 filings directly for any transactions by DeFao; our attempt to fetch insider trades programmatically was unsuccessful due to authorization constraints.