Welcome to the 2020 Annual Meeting for Balchem Corporation. Our host for today's call is Ted Harris, President, CEO and Chairman. At this time, all participants will be in a listen only mode. I will now turn the call over to your host, Mr. Harris.
You may begin, sir.
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I am Ted Harris, President, CEO and Chairman of the Board of Balchem Corporation. On behalf of the company, I want to welcome you and thank you for joining us at this virtual meeting of shareholders of Balchem Corporation. At this time, I call the meeting to order. As a preliminary matter, the virtual meeting is one that takes place via an electronic format.
An audio feed from this meeting is being webcast as we speak. This webcast incorporates shareholder validation capabilities, which means that any shareholder can vote in real time during the meeting until the polls are closed and any shareholder may submit questions while the meeting is in progress. We believe that holding a virtual annual meeting will expand shareholder access. Our shareholders in any part of the country can attend this meeting and non shareholders can listen to this webcast over the Internet. I hope you entered this meeting by using your 16 digit control number.
If you did not, you will be unable to vote your shares or submit questions during this meeting. The polls to vote online are now open. If you have already given your proxy to management, you need not vote again because the persons designated as proxies will vote for you. However, you may revoke your proxy by voting virtually at this meeting. After the meeting has been adjourned, I will answer questions submitted on the website in the field provided for shareholders.
We may not have enough time to answer all questions submitted by shareholders during the meeting. So if you would like a direct response after this meeting, please provide your contact information along with your question. John Kolowa from American Election Services LLC will act as Inspector of Elections and is participating on the call. He has taken the customary oath of office, which will be filed with the permanent records of this meeting. I would like to take this opportunity to introduce some of the officers and directors who are present at this meeting.
Doctor. John Telavantas, Lead Director Paul Coombs David Fisher Daniel Knutson Joyce Lee, Perry Premdas and Matthew Winegar. Also present from the company are Martin Bengtsson, CFO and Treasurer and Mark Stack, General Counsel and Secretary. Mr. Stack will act as Secretary of this meeting.
The Secretary has informed me that as of close of business on April 21, 2020, the record date for determining shareholders entitled to vote at this meeting, 32,316,681 of the company's common shares were outstanding, with each share being entitled to one vote on all matters properly brought before this meeting. A certified list of shareholders entitled to vote at the meeting is available at the offices of the company and may be inspected by any shareholder. Also available for inspection by the shareholders in the offices of the company are copies of the notice of meeting and proxy statement, the proxy, the annual report to shareholders and an affidavit of mailing certifying to the timely mailing on or about April 27, 2020 of the proxy materials to all shareholders of record as of the record date. Copies of the notice of meeting and proxy statement, the proxy and the annual report are also posted on the virtual meeting site. The Secretary is directed to file the list of shareholders with the records of the company and to file the notice of meeting and proxy statement, proxy annual report and affidavit of mailing with the minutes of the meeting.
Under the company's bylaws, the presence in person or by proxy of shareholders entitled to cast a majority of all the votes entitled to be cast at this meeting constitutes a quorum. The preliminary tally by the inspector indicates that a quorum is present. The presence of a quorum will be confirmed by the inspector when he completes the tally of the proxies and ballots. We will now proceed to the items of business before the meeting today. Because each of these items was listed in the notice of meeting, I will not ask for a motion or a second to approve any of these items.
The items of business are as follows: number election of 3 directors to serve until the Annual Meeting in 2023 or until their successors are duly elected and qualified. As indicated in the proxy statement, David Fisher, Perry Premedas and Doctor. John Televantes have been nominated by the Board of Directors for election as directors to serve as members of Class 3 of the Board. Number 2, the ratification of the appointment of RSM US LLP as independent auditors of the company for its fiscal year ending December 31, 2020. Number 3, the approval on an advisory basis of the compensation of named executive officers as disclosed in the company's 20 20 proxy statement in accordance with compensation rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The 4th item of business is such other The polls are now officially closed. This concludes the voting portion of the meeting. I have been informed by the inspector that he has reviewed the proxies received prior to the meeting and the ballots collected during the meeting. Based on a preliminary count of the proxies and ballots conducted by the Inspector. Each nominee has been elected to the Board of Directors by the vote of at least a majority of all votes cast at this meeting in person or by proxy.
The appointment of RSM US LLP as independent auditors of the company for its fiscal year ending December 31, 2020 has been ratified by a proxy. The compensation of named executive officers as disclosed in the company's 2020 proxy statement in accordance with compensation rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission has been ratified by a vote of the holders of at least a majority of the shares of common stock present at this meeting in person or by proxy. That concludes the formal business for this meeting. The formal portion of the meeting is now adjourned. At this point, I will pause to answer questions that may have been submitted by our shareholders.
We have allotted 10 minutes to answer questions and then the members of the Board and I will be excused to return to our Board meeting. Okay. There being no questions, I would like to conclude by thanking everyone for participating in this year's Annual Meeting of the Shareholders of Balchem Corporation. Thank you again and goodbye.