Good morning, thank you for attending WiseTech's annual general meeting. I'm Andrew Harrison, the Chair of the Board of WiseTech Global, and I will be serving as chair for this meeting. Before we begin the proceedings, I'd like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which we meet today and pay my respects to their elders past and present. On behalf of WiseTech Global, I welcome shareholders joining us at this virtual meeting. While this virtual online meeting format may be familiar to some shareholders, I appreciate that others may be less used to it. We have provided a virtual meeting online guide, which provides step-by-step instructions on how to vote and ask questions via the online platform or by telephone. You can access the online guide from the WiseTech Global website, wisetechglobal.com, by selecting Investors and then Annual General Meetings.
If you have a question that you would like to ask today, there are two ways to do so. First, you may type questions into the online platform. To do this, click Ask a Question and follow the prompts. There is a limit of 532 characters for written questions. To ensure you have had enough time to type and submit your questions, I encourage you to start typing now instead of waiting until later in the meeting. Online questions that are relevant to the business of this meeting will be read aloud to me by a WiseTech staff member. We may aggregate questions if we receive multiple questions on the same topic. The second way to ask a question is by phone. To do so, you must enter your unique PIN, which should have been obtained from Link Market Services on request prior to the meeting.
After you have dialed in, you will be asked to mute your computer and listen to the meeting by phone. If you wish to ask a question, press star one. The moderator will ask your name and will introduce you to the meeting at the relevant time. Please then unmute your phone and ask your question. If you don't have a phone PIN and would like to ask a question over the phone, please contact Link now on 1-800-990-363 to receive a PIN. We will first take questions received over the phone and then take questions from shareholders using the online platform. We will save asking each question until the relevant item of business. I will now summarize the voting procedures. All items of business will be voted on by poll, which is now open.
If you did not cast your vote prior to the meeting, you may cast a live vote using the online platform. Please click Get a Voting Card, enter your shareholder or proxy details, and follow the prompts. You may cast your live vote at any time during the meeting. Live voting on the online platform will close about five minutes after the end of the meeting. At the conclusion of the AGM, you will see a red bar appear along the top of the online platform with a countdown timer of how long you have remaining to cast your vote. You must be logged on to the platform to cast a live vote. You cannot cast a vote over the phone. If you experience any difficulties using the online platform, the helpline is displayed at the top of the page. Please call 1-800-990-363.
If we experience any technical issues that impact the meeting, we apologize. I will assess the circumstances, and if necessary, the meeting will be adjourned, and you will be emailed instructions on how and when to rejoin the meeting. I would like to introduce those directors and officers who are attending the meeting today. Executive directors and founders, Richard White and Maree Isaacs. Non-executive directors, Teresa Engelhard, Richard Dammery, Charles Gibbon, Mike Gregg, Michael Malone, and Arlene Tansey. Our company secretary, David Rippon, who will serve as secretary of the meeting. Also joining us today is Caoimhe Toouli from our auditors, KPMG. There will be an opportunity to ask questions to Caoimhe as regards the audit process and the independent auditor's report later in the meeting. Notice of this meeting was provided to all shareholders, and I have been advised that we have a quorum present.
Accordingly, I can confirm that this meeting has been properly convened. I will now take the opportunity to say a few words about our company and the operation of the board. I will hand over to our founder and CEO, Richard White, who will talk about the business. Both of these addresses were recorded prior to the meeting. After these addresses, we'll commence the formal items of business. Before I talk about our financial performance for FY22, I'd like to commend the dedication and commitment of the WiseTech team. Our people are critical in delivering on our vision to be the operating system for global logistics. Their hard work is reflected in what has been an outstanding year of product innovation, increased market penetration, and financial growth. Congratulations to the WiseTech team on another successful year.
If we look at market conditions, COVID-19 continued to cause disruptions to global supply chains throughout the year in the form of capacity constraints, port congestion, and labor shortages, as well as impacting general operations across supply chain businesses. It is important to note that while the market has experienced disruption over the past two years, the complexity of global supply chains and the challenges of a constantly evolving environment continue to push global freight forwarders and logistics providers to strive for operational improvements with a focus on efficiency. Improvements and efficiencies that our solutions can provide. WiseTech's focus continues to be building on our market penetration and expanding the CargoWise ecosystem through strategic investment in innovation and product development. Our results for FY22 are a reflection of this continued focus and showcase our resilient business model and strategy.
WiseTech delivered total revenue was AUD 632.2 million, a 25% increase on FY21, including FX. Revenue growth from our core CargoWise platform was even stronger, up 35%, including FX, to AUD 447.9 million. This increase reflects growing usage by existing customers and new customer signings. This high-quality result was underpinned by 89% recurring revenue and a low attrition rate of less than 1%, a rate that has been consistent for the last 10 years. This all points to our very stable and predictable long-term recurring revenue. The remainder of our revenue was generated by non-CargoWise applications, which delivered 5% revenue growth. EBITDA was up 54% in FY22 on the prior year to AUD 319 million, with our EBITDA margin growing by 9 percentage points to 50%.
This excellent outcome reflects our organization-wide efficiency program. This program delivered AUD 32.6 million in net cost reductions in FY22, driving further operational leverage as our revenue has grown. Our statutory NPAT of AUD 194.6 million was up 80% on FY21, and underlying NPAT was up 72% at AUD 181.8 million, demonstrating the high quality of our earnings. We have a solid financial position that is supported by a resilient balance sheet and strong cash flows. Cash as at 30 June 2022 was AUD 483.4 million, with no outstanding debt excluding lease liabilities. Combined with our additional undrawn AUD 225 million debt facility, we have significant financial flexibility and headroom to fund strategic growth opportunities.
Our operating cash flows were AUD 339.6 million, up 48% on FY21, and free cash flow of AUD 237.3 million was up 71% on last year, driven by higher EBITDA. This demonstrates the strength of our highly cash generative operating model. The board declared a fully franked final dividend of AUD 0.064 per share, up 66% on FY21. Our total dividend for the year was AUD 0.1115 per share, representing a payout ratio of 20% of underlying NPAT. Our dividend reinvestment plan continues to offer eligible shareholders the opportunity to reinvest their dividends to acquire additional WiseTech shares. Our ongoing dividend policy is to target a dividend payout ratio of up to 20% of our NPAT.
Now, turning to developments with your board, which will continue to evolve as we continue to expand our technology leadership, global reach, and geographic footprint. We recently announced the retirement of two of our board members, Mike Gregg and Arlene Tansey. Mike has been an independent non-executive director since 2006. After 17 years as a shareholder and 16 years as a director, Mike will retire from the board at the conclusion of this meeting. Over the past 16 years, Mike's extensive experience has brought invaluable insights to the board, and we thank him for his commitment and contribution to WiseTech's growth. Arlene joined the board as a non-executive director in June 2020, and we are grateful to Arlene for her significant contribution. I have personally valued her experience and insights.
In her capacity as audit and risk chair, she has played an important role in driving robust financial stewardship as the business has maintained an intense focus on growth. On behalf of the board, I would wish both Mike and Arlene all the very best for the future. I'm pleased to inform you that subject to your re-election vote, from the end of this annual general meeting, Michael Malone will be appointed chair of the Audit and Risk Committee. Michael brings considerable business operations, governance, and strong financial acumen to the role. As always, we are dedicated to continuing to evolve the board composition and have commenced a search for additional independent non-executive directors. Our people, the communities and markets in which we operate, and the environment all play important roles in our strategy and operational decisions. We are committed to prioritizing accountability and ensuring we have robust governance frameworks.
This year, we have taken clear steps in building our environmental, social, and governance commitments, demonstrating that we are dedicated to providing beneficial contributions to the communities we are part of. Our technology solutions play an important role in solving the challenges faced by the logistics industry globally through enhancing productivity and efficiencies for logistics providers. As of today, we have a fantastic team of more than 2,000 people worldwide, representing more than 60 nationalities and who range in age from 18 to 75. We take great pride in our diverse and inclusive workforce. We remain committed to encouraging and supporting more women to enter the technology and logistics industries. Making a positive contribution to society is at the core of WiseTech's DNA.
I encourage you all to read more about our ESG performance and contributions this year in our sustainability report, which forms part of our annual report. This year, our sustainability reporting was informed by the internationally recognized Global Reporting Initiative framework. Over time, we will continue to develop and build on our ESG disclosures. On behalf of the board, I would like to thank our CEO, Richard White, for his continued commitment, leadership, and unwavering vision, and the highly talented and dedicated WiseTech Global teams for their hard work and commitment to our mission. I extend my thanks to all directors for their drive, dedication, and insights, which are especially valuable as WiseTech continues to grow. I would like to thank you, our shareholders and our customers and the communities in which we operate, for your continued support and trust.
We are steadfast in delivering on our strategy and vision and advancing long-term shareholder value. I'll now hand over to Richard.
Thank you, Andrew. Good morning, everyone. I'm pleased to report that team WiseTech delivered an outstanding performance in the 2022 financial year, making good progress on the execution of our strategy, creating substantial additional value for customers, and generating strong financial returns for shareholders. WiseTech is a technology business first and foremost. Our technology is powered by our talented people. Today, we have more than 2,150 team members working across nearly 50 offices globally, united in the pursuit of our vision to be the operating system for global logistics by solving real-world problems that impact people every day. Our people embody our culture of innovation. Our strong performance is made possible because of their hard work, talent, and dedication.
As Andrew mentioned, in FY22, we delivered a total revenue of AUD 632.2 million, a 25% increase on FY21. The strong revenue growth was at the top end of our guidance, driven by accelerated growth in our core CargoWise product, where revenue grew by 37% excluding FX. This demonstrates the increasing revenue contribution from our large global freight forwarder rollouts, as well as our ability to attract new customers and increase usage by our existing customers as we expand the CargoWise ecosystem. The strong result also showed in our increased EBITDA, underlying profit after tax, and free cash flow. This standout performance demonstrates the increasing resilience of our business model.
In an environment of persistent supply chain delays, inflationary pressures, and COVID-related operational disruptions, these outcomes, delivered at such a difficult and complex time, are a real testament to the strength of our business, the dedication of our people, and the effectiveness of our 3Ps strategy. Our high-quality earnings, strong cash flow, and robust balance sheet gives us plenty of headroom and confidence to execute on our growth plans. Our strategy has been designed to achieve our vision. It is simple and consistent, focused on the 3 Ps: product, penetration, and profitability, and as always, underpinned by our people. It is centered around building our capabilities organically and where appropriate, accelerating our market reach and know-how through acquisitions, leveraging our well-established M&A capabilities and experience from 43 acquisitions since our IPO.
We continue to pursue opportunities in a considered and disciplined manner to further enhance our product capabilities, market penetration, and long-term profitability. Ongoing R&D investment that continues to enhance and grow our CargoWise platform is critical to achieving our strategic vision, and in FY22, we increased our investment in research and development by 8% to AUD 180.8 million. Investment in CargoWise was up 28% year on year, including 1,199 new CargoWise enhancements that delivered new productivity and capability to our customers. 54% of our people are now focused on product development, which demonstrates our product-led strategy, which is at the core of everything we do. This ongoing R&D and M&A investment will enable us to penetrate further into our six CargoWise development priority areas: landside logistics, warehouse, neo, digital documents, customs and compliance, and international e-commerce.
We will continue to pursue both targeted tuck-ins and larger strategic acquisitions to accelerate our product development, market reach, and long-term growth. In FY22, we completed two tuck-in acquisitions, Inobiz, which provides tools for designing and managing CargoWise connections to industry and between customers, and Hazmatica, which provides hazardous materials compliance and management capabilities. In July this year, we acquired Bolero, a business that will help accelerate our capability in digital documentation by adding electronic bills of lading. I'm delighted to announce that we have subsequently made a further tuck-in acquisition, Shipamax, an industry-leading provider of document ingestion software, which will also drive our digital documentation development priority. In FY22, we secured five new global contract wins with UPS, FedEx, Fracht Multimodal, Brink's Global Services, and Access World.
We were also pleased to see five existing customers grow organically into large global freight forwarder customers by adding new geographies and users. As at the 30th of June 2022, we have 43 global rollouts, including 10 of the top 25 global freight forwarders with a strong pipeline of future opportunities. We will continue to focus on the top 25 global freight forwarders and the top 200 global logistics providers with CargoWise global capabilities, operational efficiencies, and lower cost to implement being attractive to large global businesses. We have also made excellent progress in our organization-wide efficiency and acquisition synergy program, which delivered a AUD 32.6 million net benefit this financial year, and an annualized cost reduction of around AUD 50 million ahead of our announced target.
Our focus on efficiency is part of our ongoing financial discipline and is supported by a reduction in non-CargoWise product maintenance cost and price increases to further offset inflationary impacts and to generate returns from our substantial investments in developing our products. This focus on efficiency and productivity will continue to enhance our operating leverage as we grow and increase our scale. As Andrew outlined, this year, we have taken clear steps to progress our environmental, social, and governance efforts. We have developed an ESG and sustainability framework based around our four priority areas: our people, community, environment, and marketplace. The framework is built upon the foundations of responsibility, impact, and transparency, and engagement, which are enabled by robust principles and policies, a considered approach to risk management, and objective measures to keep us accountable.
Our ambition is to be a force for good, improving productivity, connectivity, and resource usage across global supply chains. At WiseTech, sustainability is not something we feel we have to do. Rather, it is embedded in the WiseTech way, including our credo, values, and mantras through our commitment to innovation. It is something I am personally passionate about and that our people are passionate about, too. This year, to build on our sustainability impact, we have made some important investments across our ESG pillars with a focus on three strategic objectives: education, our people and culture, and decarbonization. We will continue to work hard on these. We have pledged 1% of our annual pre-tax profit to enable tech education initiatives that develop technology skills and passion for creatively solving real-world problems in school-aged children.
Partnering with Grok Academy for an initial five-year period from FY22, the funds will initially enable all Australian K-12 students to enhance their digital technologies learning experience and advance the Grok platform to create more and richer learning opportunities. We know that students' experience in primary school and early high school strongly influences what they elect to study later in life. We need to create experiences in primary school and high school that educate and inspire our youth into STEM and technology familiarity and allow them the ability to access rewarding and economically valuable tech-focused careers. In the FY22 period, this contribution totaled over AUD 2.5 million and will initially be used to make the Grok Academy learning platform free to all Australian schools, students, teachers, parents, and adult learners. We can all do more to encourage this interest in our youth.
There must be continued investment in structured learning programs to help attract, engage, and build the technologists of the future. This partnership continues WiseTech's long-standing commitment to build a strong STEM skills base from primary school through to tertiary education and beyond. We are continuing to expand WiseTech Academy, which has grown dramatically over the past few years and have come to a watershed agreement with the University of Technology Sydney on an earn and learn program, connecting students with high-value full-time employment in technology while attending a 4-year part-time computer science degree. We continue to think deeply and act decisively on education from early childhood through primary, secondary, and tertiary to adult on-the-job upskilling, cross-skilling, and reskilling.
I passionately believe that we can lead the world in building STEM skills and jobs, and that WiseTech and many other technology companies, our economy and society, will be a long-term beneficiary of the initiatives like these. I strongly encourage other tech companies, founders, directors, and business leaders to consider how corporate engagement in enhancing education could help their businesses and society. Our people are the heart and soul of WiseTech. They are our most valuable asset, and we are committed to providing an environment that supports our people to strive, learn, grow, and flourish. Our credo highlights our commitment to our people and culture, clearly stating, "We surround ourselves with incredibly smart people with diverse and eclectic experience and abundance of talents and motivation fueled by purpose." We are all part of the WiseTech family, and I am inspired by our people, our customers, and our shareholders every day.
Additionally, as part of the community, we take our responsibility to mitigate our environmental footprint seriously. Whilst as a technology company, our carbon footprint is small relative to other industries, climate change is one of the most pressing issues we all face. We've set our path to achieve net zero global operations, and this year, we offset 100% of our Scope one and two emissions from our global operations. Our intent is to first eliminate our direct emissions, starting with the electricity used in our largest office and by our employers in Australia. I encourage you to read our sustainability report and find out more about our net zero pathway. My vision is that over time, we will go much further than this to reach zero carbon.
We are now working hard on understanding how to mitigate our scope 3 emissions when our people are working from their homes in ways that are positive for our staff and for the environment. We're also working to embed carbon calculations in all transport activities supported by the CargoWise platform to inform our customers and the wider supply chain of carbon emissions and to enable minimizations and offsets of these carbon emissions. To achieve all of this, we will continue to work closely with our key stakeholders. We look forward to updating you further on our progress. Turning to our outlook for FY23, our unique CargoWise offering is enabling us to drive momentum in our market penetration with new global rollouts and ongoing revenue growth from existing customers adding to our strong momentum. The business is tracking in line with expectations. I'm happy to reconfirm our FY23 guidance.
We expect to deliver 20%-23% FY23 total revenue growth to between AUD 755 million and AUD 780 million, with the CargoWise revenue expected to grow by approximately 30%-35%, excluding FX. In terms of FY23 EBITDA, we expect to deliver 21%-30% growth, equating to AUD 385 million to AUD 415 million based on no material change in market conditions. This represents a further expansion of our EBITDA margin by between 1 and 3 percentage points, demonstrating the continued operating leverage we are able to generate as we scale. We're delighted with the continued momentum we're seeing across the business and confident in our longer-term outlook.
We have a strong track record of revenue, EBITDA and EBITDA margin growth, having delivered 35% revenue CAGR, 47% EBITDA CAGR, and 6% free cash flow CAGR over the past six years, which clearly demonstrates the strength and resilience of our business model. This has been underpinned by securing 43 global rollouts over that period, including 10 of the top 25 benefiting from our investment of over AUD 695 million in CargoWise product enhancements over the last five years. We believe we're well-placed to benefit from continued consolidation among global logistics operators and their increasing investment in digital solutions, as well as pursuing our own M&A opportunities. Our strong balance sheet and cash generation provides us with significant financial firepower to fund our future growth. Meanwhile, structural industry drivers should continue to support our business over the medium to longer term.
Before I hand over to Andrew to commence the formal business of the meeting, I would like to reiterate my thanks to the entire WiseTech team for their efforts this year. Without them, our success would not be possible. I would like to make a special and a heartfelt thank you to Mike Gregg, who is retiring at this year's AGM for his early investment, his trust, intellect, and effort, and his 16 years of service with WiseTech Global. When Mike Gregg and Charles Gibbon joined the business as our first outside investors, we had a vision that most thought was impossible. Charles and Mike infused us with confidence and gave us the financial support we needed to globalize WiseTech. They provided critical review, alternative views, and profound insights and always helped improve our decisions, pushing myself, my co-founder Maree, and the team to new heights.
While Mike is leaving the board, I hope to maintain a strong and long relationship with him, and again, I thank him for his investment and his many years of service. Thanks also to you, our shareholders, for your continued support. We are very excited about the future and look forward to continuing to deliver on our plans.
Now to the formal business of the meeting. I understand that shareholders present today, together with their validly appointed proxies and direct votes submitted prior to the meeting, account for over 85% of the company's issued share capital. Voting on the items to be considered at this meeting will be by poll. Please refer to the virtual meeting online guide for instructions on how to submit your votes. The voting platform has opened and will remain open until about 5 minutes after the meeting is closed to allow you time to submit your votes. In line with good governance practices, I intend to disclose the proxy votes for each resolution. This will be done before the discussion on each item so that shareholders attending this meeting are aware of the intentions of shareholders who have voted by proxy.
As chair, I intend to vote all available proxies in favor of each resolution. The items of business for today's meeting are set out in the notice of annual general meeting. I intend to take the resolutions and supporting materials provided in the notice as read. We'll now turn to the first formal item of business to consider the financial report for the year ended 30 June 2022. We will take questions or comments on the directors' report, financial statements, and independent auditor's report. As a board, we are constantly seeking to improve shareholder communication. We hope that you will take the opportunity today to engage with us and ask any questions that you may have. As previously noted, the KPMG audit partner will be available to answer any questions you may have on the audit process or on the auditor's report.
I ask that you reserve any questions on the remuneration report for the next item. We will now take questions or comments on item one the financial statements and reports or the business and operations of WiseTech. Are there any questions on the phone?
No quest ions at this time.
Thank you. Are there any questions on the online meeting platform?
Sure. We have four questions from Paul Jennings, shareholder and member of Team Invest. I will ask each of these questions separately. Question one, I have heard comment that WiseTech uses old technology. Please describe the technology platform and confirm that it is modern.
Well, firstly, thank you for those questions. On the first one, given it's sort of question of an operational nature, I might ask Richard to address that.
Yes. Thank you. I can confirm the platform is deeply capable and based on very modern technology. The back end of the main platform, CargoWise One, is Microsoft SQL Server. It's a very recent version, and we continuously upgrade our software platform to ensure that we're supporting the latest versions of SQL Server. The middleware and front end are all C-sharp, and that is also going through a continuous upgrade. We're always modernizing the platform. There is a consideration. In front of customers, we want to make sure that their experience is consistent and allows for the continued use of the platform by trained staff. We are very conscious of changing user interfaces suddenly. We are doing a lot of work to improve and grow the interfaces, and we will always do that, and we do that on a continuous basis.
The entire platform is based on modern technology.
Chair, the second question: given WiseTech uses third parties for implementation and have a lean sales force, how do you stay close to customers?
Again, thank you for the question. Richard, could you please address that?
We have a number of layers to the way we market ourselves and sell. You can actually see over the last few years, despite our spend on sales and marketing going down, the results we've been achieving in sales and marketing have been increasing. This is the result of focus. We've chosen to focus on the top 25 and top 200 in the world in logistics area. We've been able to increasingly deliver great, very large and very substantial sales outcomes, including signing UPS and FedEx in the last financial year. I mean, continue to work in that space very hard. In order to do that, we refocused the team during the COVID period.
We looked at the yield we were getting from legacy products that we'd acquired. We looked at what we got from focusing on the industry. That's a big part of what we've done to improve both the cost and the yield from sales. Equally, we also use WiseTech Academy and the training of the staff of our customers as a form of sales and marketing. We also use our partner network, which is more than 350 partners around the world, all of whom are trained and certified by us as a form of our marketing engagement. All of that comes at very low cost and very high yield.
Good. Thank you, Richard.
Question three, will the high goodwill resulting from acquisitions remain?
Thank you for that question as well. As you'll be aware, the acquisitions we have made have been software-type businesses, which typically have very small amounts of physical or tangible assets. As a result of that, the purchase price is largely allocated to intangible assets, including goodwill. For the portion allocated to goodwill, each balance date, we perform the usual tests to assess the carrying value of that goodwill. To date, and our expectation is that the carrying value of the goodwill is amply supported by the value of the businesses that we've bought. No, my expectation is not that we'll see any significant writedowns in goodwill.
Chair, question four, why is Richard White selling shares?
Richard over the past three years has had a structured share sale program to sell a very small number of his holding, which, to remind shareholders, is around 37% directly and 40% of shares that he controls. He's done this in a very orderly way as part of a small asset diversification program on his part and also in a way that provides some additional liquidity for our shares. I think importantly, Richard remains a very committed both shareholder and CEO of the business. Perhaps I'll just ask him to briefly comment on that last aspect.
Yes. Thank you for the question. I've been very clear about my intentions here. Whilst this creates liquidity for new investors and it creates a diversification of my assets, it's very small compared with my total asset holding in WiseTech. I am passionately committed to the growth of WiseTech and my continued involvement in WiseTech. I truly love this company and I love the people I work with, and I love the industry and the customers we're in, and I'm very motivated to continue to drive the business to new heights as I'm continuing to do every single day.
Thank you, Richard.
There are no further questions.
Thank you. I believe that covers the discussion on this topic. As a vote is not required on this item, we'll now move on to the remaining items of business. Items 2 to 6 are each ordinary resolutions, which will be passed if more than 50% of the votes cast are in favor of the resolution. We will now turn to Item 2, the remuneration report. The Corporations Act requires that the remuneration report is put to a vote of shareholders. The remuneration report can be found on pages 72 to 90 of our 2022 annual report and is taken as read. The Board recommends that shareholders vote in favor of adopting the remuneration report. However, directors and key management personnel named in the report and their closely related parties cannot vote on this resolution given their personal interest.
As stated in the notice of meeting, this resolution is advisory only and is non-binding. However, the board will take the outcome of the vote and any discussion of this item into consideration when reviewing the remuneration framework for directors and senior executives. The slide now on screen shows the proxy votes as at 10:00 A.M. on Monday, 21 November. We'll now take questions or comments on item 2, the adoption of the remuneration report. Are there any questions on the phone?
There are no questions on the phone at this time.
Thank you. Are there any written questions on the online meeting platform?
There are no questions on the online platform, Chair.
As there are no questions, we'll now turn to item 3: the reelection of Director Maree Isaacs. Item 3 is the reelection of Maree Isaacs as a director. Maree co-founded WiseTech with Richard and has been an executive director since 1996. She has more than 30 years of senior executive experience across the logistics, supply chain, and technology industries. The board has undertaken a review of Maree's performance and, with Maree abstaining, recommends that shareholders vote in favor of her reelection to the board. I will now ask Maree to say a few words to the meeting.
Good morning, everyone, and thank you, Chair, for the opportunity to address the meeting today. As co-founder of WiseTech, it has been my absolute privilege to hold the position of Executive Director since 1996. In my 28 years as part of the WiseTech leadership team, I have witnessed the immense potential and growth of our company from an idea in the basement in Newtown, Australia, to the global powerhouse it is today. No day is the same at WiseTech. There are always new opportunities. I have enjoyed leading a number of key departments in WiseTech and have accumulated extensive knowledge across business and administrative operations, account management, customer service, and quality assurance. Playing a key role in WiseTech's rapid growth and driving our productivity-first approach, I was proud to see how rapidly we adapted to the COVID-19 pandemic and continued to deliver on our strategy.
With more than 30 years of senior executive experience across the logistics, supply chain, and technology industries, I assure you that I am as dedicated to our great company today as I was on day 1. I remain committed and focused about serving our board and subject to your vote, I look forward to continuing to make a valuable contribution to our company as we build out the CargoWise ecosystem and generate value for you, our shareholders. Thank you for your continued commitment to WiseTech and for the opportunity to speak to you today.
Thank you, Maree. The slide now on screen shows the proxy votes as at 10:00 A.M. on Monday, 21 November. I will now open the discussion and take questions or comments on item 3, the reelection of Maree Isaacs. Are there any questions on the phone?
There are no phone questions at this time.
Thank you. Are there any written questions on the online meeting platform?
There are no questions.
If there are no questions, we will now turn to item 4, the election of Non-Executive Director Richard Dammery. Richard joined the WiseTech board in December 2021 and serves as a member of the Audit and Risk Committee and the People & Remuneration Committee. He's an experienced company director and has held a range of senior leadership roles in major Australian companies. I will now ask Richard to say a few words to the meeting.
Thank you, Chair. Good morning, shareholders. My name is Richard Dammery. I joined the WiseTech board in December last year. I'm delighted to address you today to seek election to the board of our company for a period of three years. I've been lucky to have a diverse career as a lawyer and senior executive over the last 30 years. My specialist area of professional practice was in mergers and acquisitions, though like most corporate lawyers, I advised on a wide range of issues, including corporate governance. I spent nearly 10 years away from the law as the senior general manager, principally with Telecom New Zealand Group, as it was then called. My areas of responsibility included network development and network planning. That is responsibility for the core infrastructure and the engineering teams. It was in that context that I developed a strong interest in technology.
As a member of the senior teams at both Coles Group and Woolworths Group, and as a former advisor to a number of Australian ports, I've had plenty of exposure to the intricacies of the logistics sector. My experience in and around the boardroom began early in my career, but I became a full-time non-executive director in 2019. I currently serve on the boards of Australia Post, Aussie Broadband, a UK telehealth business called Doctor Care Anywhere, and Nexus Hospitals Group, which is owned by QIC Infrastructure. In terms of my broader interests, I'm a passionate supporter of the arts and serve as chair of Creative Partnerships Australia, the federal government's primary body, encouraging private sector and philanthropic investment in our arts and cultural sectors.
I believe this wide range of experience adds to the board's diversity of perspective, while also bringing strong skills across governance, strategy, acquisitions, and risk management. In my short time on the WiseTech board, I've joined both the Audit and Risk Committee and the People and Remuneration Committee. I've also supported various transactional activities. WiseTech truly is a great Australian company, taking on the world through its drive to become the operating system for global logistics. I'd be honored to continue to serve you as a non-executive director, should I be reelected. Thank you.
Thank you, Richard. The board has undertaken a review of Richard's performance and, with Richard abstaining, recommends that shareholders vote in favor of his election to the board. The board considers Richard to be an independent director. The slide now on screen shows the proxy votes on this item. I will now open the discussion and take questions or comments on item 4, the election of Richard Dammery. Are there any questions on the phone?
There are no phone questions at this time.
Thank you. Are there any written questions on the online meeting platform?
There are no written questions, Chair.
As there are no questions, we will now turn to item five, the election of Non-Executive Director Michael Malone. Michael joined the WiseTech board in December 2021 and serves as member of the People & Remuneration Committee and the Audit and Risk Committee. Assuming shareholders approve his appointment to the board, Michael will take over as Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee following Arlene's retirement. He is an Australian-based entrepreneur, business executive and professional director with more than 20 years' experience across the technology, telecommunications and media industries. I will now ask Michael to say a few words to the meeting.
Good morning, everyone, thank you, Chair, for the opportunity to address the meeting today. I'm seeking your support for my election as an independent non-executive director of the WiseTech board. As a founder and CEO of an ASX-listed company myself, I've been particularly keen to work with Richard White, a highly regarded founder and entrepreneur. I established iiNet in the garage of my family home in 1993, the first internet service provider in Western Australia. iiNet listed on the ASX in 1999 during the dotcom boom and grew to serve over 1 million homes and businesses with a market cap of over AUD 1 billion. I was CEO for some 21 years. After iiNet, I served as a non-executive director of a number of listed companies, including Seven West Media, Dreamscape, and as Chairman of Superloop.
I'm also a director of the government-owned national broadband network, NBN Co. I served as a member of the Audit and Risk Committee on all of these boards. I also served as a board member of several not-for-profits, including most recently as chair of the APNIC Foundation, an organization which is focused on advancing education in technical, operational and policy matters in relation to internet infrastructure throughout the Asia Pacific region. In April this year, I joined both the Audit and Risk Committee and the People and Remuneration Committee. The board has asked me to take on the role of Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee following Arlene's retirement at the conclusion of this meeting. I bring to the WiseTech board over 25 years of experience in leadership, business operations, marketing, governments, entrepreneurship, finance, technology and human resources.
Much of this gained in the high growth, highly regulated and constantly changing environment of telecommunications. It's been a privilege to serve as a director of your company for the past year, and subject to your vote, I would be honored to serve as director and Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee and be part of WiseTech's growth as we continue to deliver on our strategy and vision. Thank you for your time and the opportunity to speak to you today.
Thank you, Michael. The Board has undertaken a review of Michael's performance and, with Michael abstaining, recommends that shareholders vote in favor of his election to the Board. The Board considers Michael to be an independent director. The slide now on screen shows the proxy votes on this item. I will now open the discussion and take any questions or comments on item 5, the election of Michael Malone. Are there any questions on the phone?
There are no phone questions at this time.
Thank you. Are there any written questions on the online meeting platform?
Chair, there is one question that has come through from Dave East. Why are we replacing a female board member with another male?
Well, thank you for that question. WiseTech, as with many companies or publicly listed companies, has signed up to a minimum of 30% of their board being comprised directors of each gender. We are very, very cognizant of that as we consider the composition of our board going forward. As I said in my address, we are currently recruiting for another independent non-executive director, considerations of gender balance will certainly be on our mind as we embark on that process. I can also assure shareholders that as we go through the process both last time and going forward, that we will ensure that we get candidate slates that are well-balanced and include at least 50% females in the candidates that we'll evaluate.
We remain committed to the minimum 30% target going forward and expect to meet that criteria over time.
There are no further written questions.
Thank you. As there are no further questions, we will now turn to item six, the grant of share rights under the Non-Executive Director Fee Sacrifice Share Acquisition Plan. The company introduced the NED Plan in October 2020 to provide a mechanism for non-executive directors to invest and build their WiseTech equity holdings using their pre-tax director fees and thereby further align their interests with those of other shareholders. The key terms of the NED Plan are set out in the notice of the meeting. Shareholder approval is being sought in relation to ASX Listing Rule 10.14 so that shares allocated on the exercise of rights may be delivered by the issue of new shares. If a shareholder approval is not obtained, the company intends to satisfy the exercise of rights with the acquisition of shares on market.
Grants of rights under the NED Plan to directors named in the 2020 notice of Annual General Meeting were approved by shareholders in November 2020. Shareholder approval is being sought under this resolution as new directors not named in the 2020 notice of Annual General Meeting have joined the board and certain key terms, I beg your pardon, of the NED Plan have been amended for the FY23 participation period following a review by the board. I and my fellow non-executive directors cannot vote on this resolution given our personal interests. Richard White and Maree Isaacs, as executive directors, have recommended that shareholders vote in favor of this resolution. The slide now on screen shows the proxy votes. I will now open the discussion and take any questions or comments on item 6, Grant of Share Rights to Non-Executive Directors under the NED Plan.
Are there any questions on the phone?
There are no phone questions at this time.
Thank you. Are there any written questions on the online meeting platform?
There are no written questions.
As we've now concluded all the items of business, I would like to remind you to submit your votes via the online platform, which will remain open for about 5 minutes after the close of the meeting. The results of the poll will be announced via the ASX and posted on our website this afternoon. That concludes the business of the meeting. I would like to thank shareholders for your attendance and participation. I declare this meeting closed.