Hello and welcome to the annual meeting of shareholders of Owens & Minor, Incorporated. Please note that today's meeting is being recorded. During the meeting, you can submit questions or comments at any time by clicking on the message icon. It is my pleasure to turn today's meeting over to Mark Beck, Chair of the Board of Directors of Owens & Minor. Mr. Beck, the floor is yours.
Thank you, Operator, and good morning. I'm Mark Beck, Chair of the Board of Owens & Minor. In accordance with the notice of the meeting, I hereby call the annual meeting of the shareholders of Owens & Minor to order. Along with my fellow directors and the executive officers of the company who have joined our webcast, I would like to welcome you to our annual meeting. We appreciate your attendance at our virtual meeting, your interest in our company, and most importantly, your support of Owens & Minor. After we conduct the annual meeting and voting on proposals, Ed Pesicka, President and CEO of Owens & Minor, will share some comments with you before we conclude this meeting.
Participating in the annual meeting are Heath Galloway, Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of the company, and Sandra Moore with Computershare, who will serve as the inspector of election. We will proceed with the formal business of the meeting as set forth in your notice of annual meeting contained in our proxy statement. The meeting will be conducted in accordance with the rules of conduct that are available on the meeting site. Shareholders may submit questions related to the proposals being considered during this meeting in the space provided on the virtual meeting screen. Heath Galloway will serve as Secretary of the meeting today, and I will now turn the meeting over to him.
Thank you, Mark. I have an affidavit certifying that the notices of meeting and availability of proxy materials were mailed on March 27th, 2024, to all shareholders of record as of March 14th, 2024. The certified list of the shareholders entitled to vote at this meeting is available for inspection during the meeting by any shareholder on the website used to access this meeting. At this time, I would like to introduce Sandra Moore of Computershare. Ms. Moore has been appointed to serve as the inspector of election. Ms. Moore has taken and subscribed the oath of office to execute her duties, and we will file this oath with the records of the meeting.
I have been informed by the inspector of election that immediately prior to the commencement of this meeting, proxies have been received for 70,719,273 shares of the company's common stock, representing 92.32% of the outstanding shares of the company. Based on Ms. Moore's report, I can confirm a quorum is present and the meeting is legally convened to transact business.
Thank you, Heath. The polls for voting on all matters are open. If you are a shareholder entitled to vote and have not yet voted, or if you want to change your previously cast vote, please do so via the website used to access this meeting. Please remember that if you have already returned a proxy card, voted through the internet website, or by calling the toll-free voting number, you need to do nothing further to cast your vote. After voting has been completed on all matters on the agenda, we will close the polls, and the inspector of election will provide her preliminary report. The secretary will now present the proposals for consideration.
As described in the proxy, there are four proposals before the shareholders today for approval. Proposal one is the election of directors. There are nine directors standing for election today to serve a one-year term until the 2025 annual meeting of shareholders. Each nominee is listed in the proxy with a brief summary of his or her professional pursuits, qualifications, and corporate activities. The nominees are Mark A. Beck, Gwendolyn M. Bingham, Kenneth Gardner-Smith, Robert J. Henkel, Rita F. Johnson-Mills, Stephen W. Klemash, Teresa L. Kline, Edward A. Pesicka, and Carissa L. Rollins. No other nominations were received prior to the deadline established in the company's bylaws. Therefore, no additional nominations may be made at this meeting, and I declare the nominations to be closed.
Proposal 2 is the ratification of the appointment of KPMG LLP as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for the year ending December 31st, 2024. The company's Audit Committee and Board of Directors have approved this appointment subject to the shareholders' ratification at this meeting. Proposal 3 is the approval of amendment number 1 to the Owens & Minor, Inc. 2023 Omnibus Incentive Plan. The company's our People and Culture Committee and Board of Directors have approved the amendment to the 2023 Omnibus Incentive Plan subject to the shareholders' ratification at this meeting. Proposal 4 is an advisory vote to approve the compensation of our named executive officers as described in the Proxy Statement. Those are all of the proposals to be considered at this meeting.
Thank you. Have we received any questions related to the proposals presented?
No questions have been received.
Thank you, Heath. We will allow a brief pause of 30 seconds for final voting to be completed on the virtual website. I now declare the voting closed. I will ask that Mr. Galloway report on the preliminary voting results for the four proposals.
The preliminary report of the inspector of election covering the proposals at this meeting are as follows. Proposal 1, election of directors. The 9 directors' director nominees listed in the Owens & Minor, Incorporated, Proxy Statement each received a majority of affirmative votes cast. Proposal 2, the proposal to ratify the appointment of KPMG LLP as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for the audit year 2024 received a majority of votes cast. Proposal 3, the proposal to approve amendment number 1 to the Owens & Minor, Incorporated, 2023 Omnibus Incentive Plan received the affirmative vote of a majority of the votes cast on the proposal. Proposal 4, the proposal to approve on an advisory basis the compensation of the named executive officers received the affirmative vote of the majority of votes cast.
Based on the preliminary vote counts, all of the matters voted upon have been approved by the necessary number of shares. A final report of the voting results will be filed by the company on a Form 8-K within four business days.
Thank you, Heath. That concludes the business portion of the annual shareholders' meeting. At this time, Ed Pesicka, President and CEO, will share a few remarks to close out 2023 and to discuss the first quarter of 2024.
Thank you, Mark. So just at a high level of 2023, I want to start by thanking our customers for enabling us to deliver on our mission of empowering our customers or them so they can advance healthcare. The other thing in 2023, we unveiled our timeless purpose as well as our timely vision. And our purpose is really simple. It's about Life Takes Care. And that happens every day. And what we're here at Owens & Minor to do is making sure that we can help and assist as Life Takes Care, as well as our vision. It's a dynamic and bold vision to be the unstoppable dynamic leader where we, as a company, can connect both patients and providers to the trusted healthcare products and solutions that they need.
So with that purpose unveiled, we continue, as well as our vision, we continue to embed that into the fabric of the company. If I think a little bit about 2023, as we just came off of 2022 and kind of the end of COVID and really reset the stage of where we're going for the next five years as a company, 2023 is really focused around that stage that was set for the next five years. That's focused around, one, is accelerating our Patient Direct growth. Next is continuing to optimize our product and healthcare services segments. And then lastly, invest, invest back in the business to drive long-term value.
So as we move into the first quarter of 2024 and really of the five-year strategy, the first quarter of 20 quarters, we've really accomplished what we've expected to accomplish starting out of the gates with specifically investing to drive value. We're actually ahead of where we thought we would be right now in those investments, which should provide longer-term profitable growth for us. So we closed out Q1 as expected, and now we're just focused on the next three quarters of this year and then the four remaining years in our long-term strategy. So with that, we turn it back over to Mark.
Thank you, Ed. All of the board members and our executive leadership team are grateful to our shareholders and teammates around the globe for supporting our purpose, Life Takes Care, which is more than a tagline. It embodies the remarkable impact Owens & Minor has across the continuum of care to make each day better for the patients, providers, and communities we serve. Thank you all for your confidence and investment in Owens & Minor. I declare the meeting now adjourned and turn the meeting back to the operator.
Thank you, Mr. Beck. This concludes the meeting. You may now disconnect.