William Heitmann - Gabelli Equity Independent Director

Mr. William F. Heitmann is Independent Director of Gabelli Equity Trust Inc. Mr. Heitmann is a former Managing Director and Senior Advisor of Perlmutter Investment Company, a privately owned real estate investment company. He is Chairman of the Funds Audit Committee and was designated as the Funds Audit Committee Financial Expert. Mr. Heitmann serves in comparable roles for another fund in the Fund Complex. For over thirtyfive years, Mr. Heitmann served in various capacities at Verizon Communications and its predecessor companies including as Senior Vice President and Treasurer of Verizon Communications, Vice President of Asset Management and Treasurer of Bell Atlantic Corporationrationration, and Vice President of Merger Implementation during the Bell AtlanticNYNEX merger. Additionally, he served as Chairman of the Board for Verizon Capital Corporationrationration, the companys financial subsidiary. As Senior Vice President of Finance at Verizon, Mr. Heitmann was responsible for leading the Verizon Investment Management Corporationrationration, for which he held the positions of President and Chief Investment Officer. Mr. Heitmann serves as a director of Syncreon, a contract logistics provider, and is Chairman of its Audit Committee. He was a director of DRS Technologies and Chairman of its Audit Committee, a director of the Pension Real Estate Association, and member of the Committee for the Investment of Employee Benefit Assets, the Financial Executives Institute, and The Pension Managers Advisory Committee of the NYSE, and The Investment Committee of the Society for Neurology