Good morning. I'm Kim Cocklin, Chairman of the Board of Atmos Energy Corp. I will now call the meeting to order. It's my pleasure to introduce the Atmos Energy Board of Directors. You'll find information about the credentials of each in your proxy statement. They are Kevin Akers from Dallas, John Akers, Houston, Kelly Compton and Sean Donohue from Dallas, Rafael Garza from Fort Worth, Eddie Geisler from Houston, Nancy Quinn, Key Biscayne, Florida, Telisa Toliver, Houston, Frank Yoho, Charlotte, North Carolina, and Honorary Director Bob Best from Dallas. I would also like to welcome our independent auditor, Drew Ward, from Ernst & Young, and Bob Johnson from Broadridge Financial Solutions, who will serve as the Inspector of Election for our meeting today. We invited any shareholder questions to be submitted prior to the meeting. We did not receive any, so we'll now turn to the business matters.
If you have any questions following the meeting, please email them to boardofdirectors@atmosenergy.com. This annual meeting is held pursuant to the notice distributed beginning on December 19, 2025, to each shareholder of record at the close of business on December 12, 2025. An affidavit of distribution has been provided by Broadridge Financial Solutions, evidencing the fact that notice of this meeting did occur. The list of shareholders entitled to vote has been available for review for more than 10 days before this meeting, as required by law. All documents concerning the notice will be filed with the other meeting records. The total shares present, in person or by proxy, at the beginning of the meeting, were more than 80 million shares of the company's common stock.
That represents over 50% of the shares of the company's outstanding common stock at the close of business on December 12, 2025. Therefore, I hereby declare that a quorum is present, and this meeting has been convened to properly transact the business before it. We have eight proposals at our meeting today. First is for the shareholders to elect 12 directors to serve one-year terms, which will expire in February 2027. All the nominees were recommended by the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee of the Board, and all of them have consented to be a nominee as well as to serve as a director if elected. No other nominations were received in accordance with our bylaws, and the nominations are now closed.
The nominees are Kevin Akers, John Akers, Kim Cocklin, Kelly Compton, Mitzi Kugler, Sean Donohue, Rafael Garza, Edward Geisler, Nancy Quinn, Telisa Toliver, William Ware, and Frank Yoho. You'll find more information about the affiliations and careers of each nominee in your proxy. Second, is to ratify the appointment by the Audit Committee of Ernst & Young, LLP, to serve as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for our 2026 fiscal year. Third, is to act upon a proposal for a non-binding advisory vote by the shareholders to approve the compensation of the named executive officers of the company for our 2025 fiscal year. This proposal is referred to as Say-on-Pay. Fourth, is to act upon a proposal to amend the company's articles of incorporation to increase the number of authorized shares of common stock.
Fifth, is to act upon a proposal to amend the company's articles of incorporation to provide for a plurality voting in the event of a contested election. Sixth, is to act upon a proposal to amend the company's articles of incorporation to limit the liability of certain officers as permitted by Texas and Virginia law. Our seventh proposal is to act upon a proposal to amend the company's articles of incorporation to clarify the indemnification provisions. Eighth and last, is to act upon a proposal to amend the company's articles of incorporation to remove obsolete provisions and make certain other clarifying, technical, and conforming changes. No other proposals were received by the corporate secretary in accordance with the bylaws. Therefore, we will move on to the voting. We will now open the polls for voting.
Any shareholder who has not yet voted or who wishes to change their vote may do so by clicking on the voting button on the web portal and following the instructions. Shareholders who have sent in their proxies or voted via telephone or internet and do not want to change their vote, do not need to take any further action. ... We will pause now to allow for voting. Now that everyone has had the opportunity to vote, I will declare the polls closed. We're now ready to report the results of our shareholder voting. Mr. Johnson has provided me with a preliminary, unofficial tabulation of the voting results. His firm, Broadridge Financial Solutions, will certify the final results later this week, and those final results will be presented in a report that we will file with the Securities and Exchange Commission in a few days.
First, I'm very pleased to announce that the unofficial count shows that all nominees for election to the board of directors were elected. Each received a full vote from a majority of the shares present or represented by proxy and entitled to vote at the meeting. I declare they all have been duly elected to the Board of Directors of Atmos Energy Corporation. Those elected are Kevin Akers, John Akers, Kim Cocklin, Kelly Compton, Mitzi Kugler, Sean Donohue, Rafael Garza, Edward Geisler, Nancy Quinn, Telisa Toliver, William Ware, and Frank Yoho. The second proposal to ratify the appointment of our independent registered public accounting firm was approved by a majority of the votes cast. Third proposal for a non-binding advisory vote to approve the fiscal 2025 compensation of our named executive officers, known as Say on Pay, was approved by a majority of the votes cast.
Proposals 3 through 8 for amendments to the company's articles of incorporation were approved by more than two-thirds of the outstanding shares entitled to vote. That concludes the business before our meeting. We thank you very much for your interest and continued support for Atmos Energy, and we will stand adjourned.