Morning, ladies and gentlemen. I want to welcome all of you to the 2026 Annual Meeting of Stockholders of Akebia Therapeutics. I am Adrian Adams, Chairperson of the Board of Directors of Akebia Therapeutics, and I will be presiding at this meeting. At this time, I call the meeting to order. We are holding this meeting in an all-virtual format and are pleased to have everyone join this live webcast. We have designed this meeting to provide stockholders with the same rights and opportunities to participate as they would at an in-person meeting. I would now like to take this opportunity to welcome the other members of Akebia's Board of Directors and the company's executive leadership team who are present here today. The other directors present today are Ronald Friesen, Michael Rogers, Cynthia Smith, Myles Wolf, Philip Vickers, and LeAnne Zumwalt.
John Butler, who is a Director and Akebia's President and Chief Executive Officer, is also present. Also present today are the following other members of Akebia's leadership team. Meredith Bowman, Senior Vice President, Chief People Officer. Steven Burke, Senior Vice President, Research and Development, and Chief Medical Officer. Nicholas Grund, Senior Vice President, Chief Commercial Officer. Justin McCue, Senior Vice President, Chief Technology Officer. Erik Ostrowski, Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Business Officer, and Treasurer. Carolyn Rucci, Senior Vice President, Chief Legal Officer, and Secretary. Mrs. Rucci will act as secretary of this meeting, and Mercedes Carrasco, who is our Senior Director, Corporate Communications and Investor Relations, will field any participant questions. I would also like to introduce Maria Franklin, Associate Director, Equity, who has been appointed to act as the Inspector of Election.
James Beliveau, a Partner from Ernst & Young LLP, the company's independent registered public accounting firm, is also present at this meeting. Each of you should have registered when you logged in to the virtual meeting site. You should see the agenda and the rules of procedure for the meeting. To conduct an orderly meeting, we would ask that participants abide by these rules. Should you desire to ask a question on the proposals, such question may be submitted in the field provided in the web portal. Each stockholder is limited to one question or comment. As stated in the rules of procedure, we ask that you restrict your question or comment to matters properly before the meeting. Thank you for your cooperation with these rules.
Please note that various remarks that we may make about future expectations, plans, and prospects for the company constitute forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including those discussed in the Risk Factors section of the company's most recent quarter report on Form 10-Q, which is on file with the SEC. In addition, these forward-looking statements represent the company's expectations only as of today. While the company may elect to update these forward-looking statements, it specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. Any forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the company's estimates or views as of any date subsequent to today.
The Secretary has delivered an affidavit of mailing establishing that notice of this meeting was duly given, and the proxy statement was sent to all stockholders of record commencing on April the 28th, 2026. A copy of the notice of meeting and the affidavit of mailing will be incorporated into the minutes of this meeting. All stockholders of record as of 5:00 P.M. Eastern Time on April the 20th, 2026, are entitled to vote at this meeting. Our first order of business at this meeting is to determine whether the shares represented at the meeting, either in person or by proxy, are sufficient to constitute a quorum for the purpose of transacting business. Mrs. Rucci, do you have a report?
Yes. The stockholder list shows that holders of 268,250,043 shares of common stock of the company are entitled to vote at this meeting. We are informed by the Inspector of Election that there are represented in person or by proxy 191,645,831 shares of common stock, or approximately 71% of all of the shares entitled to vote at this meeting.
Thank you. Because the holders of a majority of the total number of outstanding shares entitled to vote at this meeting are present in person or by proxy, I declare this meeting to be duly convened for purposes of transacting such business as may properly come before it. The next order of business is a description of the matters to be voted on at today's meeting, as described in the proxy materials that were sent to stockholders. The first proposal before the stockholders of the company is the election of 3 Class III directors to serve until the 2029 Annual Meeting of Stockholders and until their successors are duly elected and qualified Subject to their earlier death, resignation, or removal. The Class III director nominees are Adrian Adams, Michael Rogers, and LeAnne Zumwalt.
The second proposal before the stockholders of the company is the approval of the amendment of the company's ninth amended and restated certificate of incorporation to increase the number of authorized shares of capital stock from 375 million to 525 million, and to increase the number of authorized shares of common stock from 350 million to 500 million, as described in our proxy statement. The third proposal before the stockholders of the company is a say-on-pay proposal, which is the approval on an advisory, non-binding basis of the compensation of our named executive officers, as disclosed in our proxy statement. The fourth proposal asks the stockholders of the company to cast a non-binding advisory vote on the frequency of the future advisory votes on executive compensation.
As described in our proxy statement, stockholders may vote for a frequency of every one, two, or three years, or abstain. The fifth proposal before the stockholders of the company is the ratification of the appointment of Ernst & Young LLP as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for the current fiscal year. If there are any questions on the proposals, they may be submitted on the virtual meeting website. If asking a question, please also include your name and affiliation to the company. Mercedes, are there any questions on the proposals?
There are no questions on the proposals.
Thank you. We will now move on to voting on the proposals. The polls are now open. If you decide to vote at this time, please do so electronically with your unique control number from your proxy card. If you previously voted by proxy, whether by mail, telephone, or on internet, you should not vote unless you wish to change your vote, as your submission of a vote will revoke all proxies. The persons named in your proxy will vote your shares as indicated on the proxy that you provided. If any stockholder has not submitted a proxy and wishes to vote or wishes to change their vote, please submit your vote now. We will pause briefly to allow stockholders to vote. Now that everyone has had the opportunity to vote, the business items on the agenda for this meeting are complete and the polls are now closed.
We now have the preliminary report of the results of the meeting from the Inspector of Election. Will the Secretary please report the preliminary results of the voting?
We have been informed by the Inspector of Election that the Class III nominees for election to the board of directors have been duly elected. That the amendment to the company's ninth amended and restated certificate of incorporation to increase the number of authorized shares of capital stock from 375 million to 525 million, and to increase the number of authorized shares of common stock from 350 million to 500 million, has been approved. That the advisory vote on the compensation of our named executive officers has passed. That one year has been selected on an advisory basis as the frequency for the advisory vote on the compensation of our named executive officers. That Ernst & Young has been duly ratified as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for the current fiscal year.
The final vote results will be included in the Form 8-K that will be filed within four business days after this meeting.
Thank you. There is no further business to come before the meeting, I declare this meeting adjourned. Thank you for attending today's meeting.
The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.