Morning everyone, welcome to Anika Therapeutics, Inc. 2026 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. Our host for today is Stephen Griffin, Anika's President and Chief Executive Officer. At this time, for the duration of the meeting, all participants will be in a listen-only mode. Any questions that you may have must be submitted via the chat function, which is now live. I will now turn the call over to you, Mr. Griffin, to begin the meeting.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Stephen Griffin, President and Chief Executive Officer of Anika Therapeutics. It's my privilege to welcome you to the Anika Therapeutics 2026 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. We have stockholders participating via the web portal and the 800 number that we have provided and have provided the broader public with listen-only access. Today, I will preside as Chair of this meeting. Ian McLeod, our Senior Vice President, Chief Accounting Officer, and Treasurer, will act as Secretary for the meeting. It is now shortly after 8:30 A.M. Eastern Time on June 18th. This meeting is officially called to order. This meeting is being held in accordance with Anika's bylaws and Delaware law. I would like to begin by introducing Anika's Board of Directors and the Executive Officers who are in attendance today.
From our Board of Directors, I am pleased to introduce Cheryl Blanchard, Executive Chair of the Board, Jack Henneman, Lead Independent Director, Sheryl Conley, Chair of the Compensation Committee, Stephen Richard, Chair of the Audit Committee, Joe Capper, and Gary Fischetti. Also attending are representatives from our independent auditor, Deloitte & Touche LLP, and from our outside corporate legal counsel, Goodwin Procter LLP. Finally, I would like to introduce Linda Piscadlo of American Election Services. As Presiding Officer, I have appointed Ms. Piscadlo to serve as Inspector of Elections of this annual stockholder meeting. Ms. Piscadlo took the oath of Inspector of Elections earlier today. We will conduct the formal business of the meeting first. After that, I will be happy to address appropriate business-related questions you may have.
Please note that only stockholders who have logged in using their control number will be able to vote and ask questions in the designated field on the web portal at the meeting. If you have already prepared a question, please feel free to submit it during the meeting via the chat function. Out of consideration for others, please limit yourself to two questions. If any stockholder wishes to address the Chair during the formal part of this meeting, please do so by submitting your question through the virtual meeting platform. Please note that this meeting is being recorded and will be available for replay on our website after the meeting. However, no one attending via the webcast or telephone is permitted to use any audio recording device. Rules of conduct and procedures for the meeting are available in the Files section in the lower right-hand corner of the screen.
We will now review the background and details relating to the matters to be voted upon at this meeting. On April 28th, 2026, we filed a proxy statement and related materials with the US Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with today's annual meeting. We have received an affidavit from Broadridge certifying that beginning on April 28th, 2026, the records relating to the annual meeting were processed, distributed, mailed, and deposited with the US Post Office and sent to all stockholders of record as of 5:00 P.M. Eastern Time on April 21st, 2026. On June 1st and June 8th, 2026, supplements to the proxy statement were filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, and we've received affidavits from Broadridge certifying that the supplements were also processed, distributed, mailed, and deposited to all stockholders of record as of 5:00 P.M. Eastern Time on April 21st, 2026.
A record of stockholders as of that date has been on file at the principal place of business of Anika for the 10 days immediately prior to the date of this meeting and has been available for inspection by any stockholder during that period during normal business hours. Broadridge's affidavit, along with a complete alphabetical listing of stockholders entitled to vote at this meeting, will also be filed with the records of this meeting. The proxy materials identified five proposals to be considered at this meeting. First, the election of three Class III directors. Second, ratification of appointment of Deloitte & Touche LLP as Anika's independent auditor for 2026. Third, advisory say on pay vote on executive compensation. Fourth, amendment of the Anika Therapeutics, Inc. 2017 Omnibus Incentive Plan. Fifth, amendment of the Anika Therapeutics, Inc. 2021 Employee Stock Purchase Plan.
If you have already delivered a proxy to Anika, your stock will be voted as you have specified in your proxy. Any stockholder present at the meeting may also vote by ballot. If you are a stockholder and have not already delivered a proxy or would like to change any of the votes reflected in your proxy, please click on the voting button on the web portal and follow the instructions there. The polls are now open for all matters on which the stockholders will vote at this meeting. It is now 8:35 A.M. on June 18th, 2026. The polls will remain open until all the matters to be voted on have been presented, and I have announced the polls have been closed. The Inspector of Elections has tallied the proxies received. Ms. Piscadlo, do we have a quorum present?
Of the 13,305,624 shares of common stock entitled to vote at the meeting, 11,195,667 shares are represented, either in person or by proxy, and therefore, a quorum is present.
Thank you. I declare that a quorum is present. We may now proceed to transact the business for which this meeting has been called, as described in the proxy statement. Ian McLeod, our senior vice president, chief accounting officer, and treasurer, will report later in the meeting about the voting power present at this meeting in person or by proxy, as provided by the Inspector of Elections. The first order of business is the election of directors. Anika has three classes of directors. Each class serves for a three-year term, with one class of directors being elected by our stockholders at each annual meeting. This year, three Class III directors are nominated for election as set forth in the proxy statement.
The Class III directors must be elected by a majority of the shares of common stock that are voting in the election of directors, meaning that to be elected, the shares voted for a nominee must exceed the number voted against that nominee. The nominees for election at this meeting are myself, Gary Fischetti, and Jack Henneman. The board of directors unanimously recommends that stockholders vote for the election of each, myself, Gary Fischetti, and Jack Henneman. The second item of business is the ratification of the audit committee's appointment of Deloitte & Touche LLP as Anika's independent auditor for the fiscal year ending on December 31st, 2026.
The audit committee and the board of directors, which is comprised entirely of independent directors, appointed Deloitte & Touche LLP as Anika's independent registered public accounting firm to audit the corporation's financial statements for the fiscal year ending on December 31st, 2026.
The board of directors approved the selection of Deloitte & Touche LLP 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 Deloitte & Touche LLP as the corporation's independent auditor, the board of directors and the audit committee will reconsider the appointment. The board of directors unanimously recommends that stockholders vote for this proposal. The third item of business is a non-binding advisory vote to approve compensation of the corporation's named executive officers for the 2025 fiscal year, as disclosed in the proxy statement.
Approval of this proposal requires the affirmative vote of the holders of a majority in voting power of shares of Anika's common stock that are voting on the matter. The board of directors unanimously recommends that stockholders vote for this proposal. The fourth item of business is the amendment of Anika's 2017 Omnibus Incentive Plan to increase the pool available for grant by 350,000 shares. Approval of this amendment requires the affirmative vote of the holders of a majority of voting power of the shares of common stock that are in voting on the matter. The board of directors unanimously recommends that stockholders vote for this proposal. The fifth and final item of business is the amendment of Anika's 2021 Employee Stock Purchase Plan to increase the number of shares of common stock reserved from 200,000 to 400,000.
Approval of this amendment requires the affirmative vote of the holders of the majority in voting power of the shares of common stock that are voting on the matter. The board of directors unanimously recommends that stockholders vote for this proposal. This concludes the business items on the agenda for the annual meeting. The polls are now open, and any stockholder who hasn't yet voted or wishes to change their vote may do so by clicking on the voting button on the web portal and following the instructions there. Stockholders who have already sent in proxies or voted via telephone or the internet and do not want to change their vote do not need to take any further action.
Now that everyone has had the opportunity to vote, I declare the polls for the 2026 Anika Therapeutics Annual Stockholder Meeting closed at 8:40 A.M. Eastern Time on June 18th, 2026. No additional ballots, proxies, or votes, and no changes or revocations will be accepted. Do we have preliminary voting results?
We do. We have been informed by the Inspector of Elections that the preliminary vote report shows that a majority of the shares present or represented and entitled to vote have been voted in favor of the election of the nominees to the board, the ratification of the appointment of Deloitte & Touche LLP, the approval of the 2025 executive compensation as disclosed in the proxy statement on a non-binding advisory vote, the amendment of the 2017 Omnibus Incentive Plan, and the amendment of Anika's 2021 Employee Stock Purchase Plan.
Thank you, Ian. The secretary will incorporate the formal report of the Inspector of Elections, including the final results of the votes, in the record of this meeting. The final results will also be included in our reports filed with the SEC. Thank you for taking the time to attend our 2026 annual meeting. There being no further business to come before the meeting, I hereby adjourn the meeting. I will now take appropriate business-related questions that have been entered in via the web portal, if any, which will be read by Matt Hall, our Executive Director of Corporate Development and Investor Relations. Please note that we will attempt to answer as many questions as time allows. Matt, do we have any questions?
Steve, we are showing no business-related web questions at this time.
Thank you, Matt. This concludes Anika Therapeutics 2026 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. Thanks again to all of our stockholders for your participation and support. Please have a nice day.
This now concludes the meeting. Thank you for attending and have a pleasant day.