Good morning, everyone. My name is Jerome Durso. I'm the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Altimmune, Inc. The meeting is now called to order. I've asked Robin E. Abrams, our Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary, to record the minutes. It's a pleasure to welcome our shareholders and visitors to the annual meeting of Altimmune, Inc. We're excited to be hosting our meeting virtually, which allows us to be more inclusive and reach a greater number of our shareholders via the web portal. This meeting is being held in accordance with the corporation's bylaws and Delaware law. Our meeting today will take care of the formal business at hand, which is described in our notice and proxy statement, a copy of which was mailed on or about March 19th, 2026, to all of our stockholders of record at the close of business on March 13th, 2026.
During this portion of the meeting, all discussion will be limited to the official business at hand. Before proceeding to the formal business, I'd like to introduce the directors and officers of the corporation who are attending this virtual meeting with us today. Our outside directors are John M. Gill, Philip Hodges, Diane K. Jorkasky, Teri Lawver, Wayne Pisano, Mitchel Sayare, Klaus O. Schafer, and Catherine Angell Sohn. Wayne Pisano serves as our Lead Independent Director. Our officers are Jerome Durso, President and Chief Executive Officer, Greg Weaver, Chief Financial Officer, Scot Roberts, Chief Scientific Officer, Christophe Arbet-Engels, Chief Medical Officer, and Linda M. Richardson, Chief Commercial Officer. Our independent auditors, the firm of Ernst & Young, is represented at this meeting by Anne V. Kroon. In addition to our Chief Legal Officer, Robin E. Abrams, we're also joined by Joseph C. Theis Jr. of Goodwin Procter, our outside legal counsel.
Now let's proceed to the formal business of the meeting, notice of which was sent to all shareholders of record as of the close of business on March 13th, 2026. Shareholders of record on that date are entitled to vote at this meeting. We have at this meeting a record of stockholders as of that date. A duplicate record has been on file at the principal place of business of the corporation for the last 10 days, immediately prior to the date of this meeting, and has been available for inspection by any stockholder during that period at any time during normal business hours. Please note that only stockholders who have logged in using their valid control number will be able to vote and ask questions at this meeting.
If any stockholder wishes to address the chairman after the polls have closed, please do so by entering your question in the text box provided on the web portal. I request that your questions be brief in order to allow other stockholders the opportunity to ask questions. If you have any questions on the rules of conduct for this meeting, we've posted the rules of conduct to the web portal. The board of directors has appointed Kristen Figueroa, who is joining this meeting telephonically, to act as Inspector of Election for this annual meeting, and she will tabulate results of the voting. The Inspector of Election has signed the oath of her office, which will be filed with the minutes of this meeting. Mrs. Figueroa, do we have a quorum present?
Mr. Chairman, of the 130,105,177 shares of common stock entitled to vote at the meeting, 88,270,241 shares are represented either in person or by proxy, and therefore, a quorum is present.
I declare that a quorum is present. We may now proceed to transact the business for which this meeting has been called. Let me briefly describe the voting procedures. We'll vote by proxy and by written ballot via the web portal. If you have previously turned in your proxy and you do not intend to change your vote, it is not necessary that you complete another proxy or ballot. Your vote will be counted. If you are eligible to vote and have not submitted your proxy, or if you want to change your vote, please submit your vote via the voting buttons on the web portal. It is now 8:35 A.M. on April 16th, 2026, and the polls for each matter to be voted on at this annual meeting are now open. Our first item of business is the election of directors.
At this meeting, we will be voting on nine nominees for directors to serve for a term of one year, all as set forth in the proxy statement. In accordance with the bylaws, your directors have nominated Jerome Durso, John Gill, Philip Hodges, Diane K. Jorkasky, Teri Lawver, Wayne Pisano, Mitchel Sayare, Klaus O. Schafer, and Catherine Angell Sohn to be elected to serve as directors. The corporation's bylaws require that a stockholder take certain steps and provide advance notice to the corporation of a stockholder's intent to nominate persons as directors. No such compliant notice was received. Accordingly, the nine nominees of the corporation who I have mentioned are the only nominees up for election as directors at this meeting. The board of directors unanimously recommends that stockholders vote in favor of this proposal. Anyone who is voting via the web portal, please mark your vote now.
The second item of business is the ratification of the appointment of Ernst & Young LLP as the corporation's independent registered public accounting firm for the fiscal year ending December 31st, 2026. The audit committee of the board of directors, which is comprised entirely of independent directors, appointed Ernst & Young as the corporation's independent registered public accounting firm to audit the corporation's financial statements for the fiscal year ending December 31st, 2026. The board of directors approved the selection of Ernst & Young and has asked the stockholders to ratify the selection. Stockholder ratification is not required by the corporation's bylaws. However, the board of directors is submitting this to the stockholders for ratification as a matter of good corporate governance.
If the stockholders do not approve the selection of Ernst & Young as the corporation's independent registered public accounting firm, the board of directors and the audit committee will reconsider the appointment. Anyone who is voting via the web portal, please mark your vote now. The third item of business is the approval on an advisory basis of the compensation of the corporation's named executive officers as disclosed in the proxy statement. The board of directors unanimously recommends that stockholders vote in favor of this proposal. Anyone who is voting via the web portal, please mark your vote now. The fourth item of business is the approval of the proposed amendment to the corporation's amended and restated certificate of incorporation to increase the number of authorized shares of common stock from 200 million-400 million.
The board of directors unanimously recommends that stockholders vote in favor of this proposal. Anyone who is voting via the web portal, please mark your vote now. The fifth item of business is the approval of the proposed amendment to the corporation's 2019 Employee Stock Purchase Plan to increase the number of shares of the corporation's common stock reserved for issuance under the 2019 Employee Stock Purchase Plan from 403,500 to 1,108,827. The board of directors unanimously recommends that stockholders vote in favor of this proposal. Anyone who is voting via the web portal, please mark your vote now.
The sixth item of business is the approval of the authorization to adjourn the annual meeting, if necessary or appropriate, to solicit additional proxies in favor of the foregoing proposals if there are not sufficient votes to approve the proposals. The Board of Directors unanimously recommends that stockholders vote in favor of this proposal. Anyone who is voting via the web portal, please mark your vote now. You must submit your ballot via the web portal now in order for your vote to be counted. The Inspector of Election will not accept ballots, proxies, or votes, or any changes or revocations submitted after the close of the polls. It's now 8:40 A.M. on April 16, 2026, and the polls for each matter to be voted on at this meeting are now closed. No additional ballots, proxies, or votes, and no changes or revocations will be accepted.
Mrs. Figueroa, please report on the results of the voting.
With regard to proposal one, a plurality of the votes cast have been voted in favor of the election of the persons nominated. With regard to proposal two, a majority of the votes cast have been voted in favor of the ratification of Ernst & Young LLP as the corporation's independent registered accounting firm for the fiscal year ending December 31st, 2026. With regard to proposal three, a majority of the votes cast have been voted in favor of the approval on an advisory basis of the compensation of the corporation's named executive officers as disclosed in the proxy statement. With regard to proposal four, a majority of the votes cast have been voted in favor of the amendment to the corporation's amended and restated certificate of incorporation to increase the number of authorized shares of common stock from 200 million to 400 million.
With regard to proposal five, a majority of the votes cast have been voted in favor of the amendment to the corporation's 2019 Employee Stock Purchase Plan to increase the number of shares of the corporation's common stock reserved for issuance under the 2019 Employee Stock Purchase Plan from 403,500 to 1,108,827. With regard to proposal six, a majority of the votes cast have been voted in favor of the approval of the authorization to adjourn the annual meeting, if necessary or appropriate, to solicit additional proxies in favor of the foregoing proposals if there are not sufficient votes to approve the proposal.
Thank you, Mrs. Figueroa. I declare that all the proposals presented at the meeting have been approved by the stockholders. The final results of voting, including any ballots and proxies recorded during this meeting, will be set forth in the report of the inspector of election and will be included in the minutes of the meeting. The final results will also be included in our report filed with the SEC. The formal portion of our meeting has concluded. I'll now check whether we have received questions from stockholders that have been properly submitted. We've not received any questions from stockholders. There being no other matters for consideration at this meeting, I hereby adjourn the meeting. Thank you very much.