Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today for the annual meeting of stockholders of Brighthouse Financial, Inc. I am Allie Lin, Executive Vice President, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary of Brighthouse Financial. I'm joined today by Chuck Chaplin, Chairman of the Board of Directors, each of the director nominees, including Eric Steigerwalt, our President and Chief Executive Officer, as well as our other senior officers. Before we begin, I would like to state that our discussion during today's meeting may include forward-loo king statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Brighthouse Financial's actual results may differ materially from the results anticipated in the forward-looking statements as a result of risks and uncertainties described from time to time in Brighthouse's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Information discussed at today's meeting speaks only as of today, June 2nd, 2026, and Brighthouse undertakes no obligation to update any information discussed during today's meeting. During this meeting, we may also discuss certain financial measures used by management that are not based on generally accepted accounting principles, also known as non-GAAP measures. Reconciliations of these non-GAAP measures on a historical basis to the most directly comparable GAAP measures and related definitions may be found on the investor relations portion of our website and in our filings with the SEC. A recording of the annual meeting will be available to the public on our annual meeting website at www.virtualshareholdermeeting.com/BHF2026. Personal recording of the annual meeting is prohibited. I am now going to turn the meeting over to Chuck, who will preside over the meeting. Mr. Chairman?
Thank you, Allie. Time is now 8:02 A.M. I call the meeting to order. In accordance with our bylaws, I will act as Chairman of the meeting, and Allie Lin, Executive Vice President, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary, will act as Secretary of the meeting. I will now turn it back over to Allie.
Thank you, Chuck. An agenda for this meeting has been posted to the annual meeting website. As you can see on the agenda, following the presentation of the proposals for the stockholder vote, we will entertain questions from stockholders with respect to the proposals. Stockholders may enter their questions in the dialog box that appears on your screen. Following the closing of the polls, we will also address any general stockholder questions received in advance that are germane to this meeting. We have posted to our website the procedures and rules of conduct for the meeting, and we ask all stockholders to abide by those rules. I will now turn it back to Chuck.
Thanks. I will now introduce the director nominees who are all attending this meeting. Stephen Hooley. Stephen is the chair of the audit committee and also serves on our investment committee. Michael Inserra. Michael serves on the audit and investment committees. Carol Juel. Carol serves on the audit and investment committees. Eileen Mallesch. Eileen is the chair of the investment committee and also serves on the Compensation and Human Capital Committee and nominating and corporate governance committees. Diane Offereins. Diane is the chair of the Compensation and Human Capital Committee and also serves on the nominating and corporate governance and finance and risk committees. Eric Steigerwalt. Eric is our President and Chief Executive Officer and is also a member of the board. Paul Wetzel. Paul is chair of the finance and risk committee and also serves on the Compensation and Human Capital Committee and nominating and corporate governance committees. Lizabeth Zlatkus.
Liz serves on the audit and finance and risk committees. More detailed information about each of our directors is included in your proxy materials. I will now introduce senior executives of Brighthouse Financial attending today. Shelly Hemler, Executive Vice President and Chief Auditor. Jeff Hughes, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer. Vonda Huss, Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer. Myles Lambert, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. Allie Lin, Executive Vice President, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary. Philip Melville, Executive Vice President and Chief Risk Officer. David Rosenbaum, Executive Vice President and Head of Product and Underwriting. John Rosenthal, Executive Vice President and Chief Investment Officer. Finally, Ed Spehar, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Also attending this meeting is Eugene Gelling of Deloitte & Touche LLP, our independent accounting firm. Okay, Allie, back over to you.
I will now report on a few meeting formalities. Victor Lattesta of CT Hagberg LLC is serving as Inspector of Election for this meeting. Victor has taken his oath as Inspector of Election. I confirm that Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. has provided us with an affidavit attesting that the mailing of the notice of this meeting to stockholders commenced on April 14th, 2026. The affidavit has been filed with the records of the company. I also confirm that the list of stockholders as of April 6, 2026, the record date for this meeting, was made available for inspection by stockholders in accordance with Delaware law. The holders of a majority of the shares outstanding at the record date ar e present, either by participation in this annual meeting or by proxy, and accordingly, a quorum is present at this meeting. Chuck, back to you.
Thank you, Allie. We'll now turn to the agenda for the meeting. There are three proposals presented for stockholder vote. Each of the proposals is described in detail in the proxy materials that were provided to stockholders. We will present all of the proposals, following which stockholders will have an opportunity to ask questions via the online portal. We will also address any general questions that were received in advance after we complete the official business of the meeting. I now declare the polls open. Allie, please review the proposals for action at the annual meeting, then provide the preliminary vote results.
Thank you, Chuck. The first item of business is proposal one, the election of the following nine directors to each serve for a one-year term expiring at the 2027 annual meeting. Chuck Chaplin, Stephen Hooley, Michael Inserra, Carol Juel, Eileen Mallesch, Diane Offereins, Eric Steigerwalt, Paul Wetzel, and Lizabeth Zlatkus. The board of directors has recommended that stockholders vote for each of the nine nominees. The next item of business is proposal two, the ratification of the appointment of Deloitte & Touche LLP as Brighthouse's independent registered public accounting firm for fiscal year 2026. The board of directors has recommended that stockholders vote for this proposal. The next item of business is proposal three, an advisory vote to approve the compensation paid to Brighthouse's named executive officers, which we refer to as the Say-on-Pay vote. The board of directors has recommended that stockholders vote for this proposal.
In accordance with the procedures noted on the stockholder portal, we will now review any questions or comments about these proposals. Allie, do we have any questions?
We received one pre-submitted question, which I will read verbatim. The question is as follows: What value accrues to the shareholders from a supervisory vote on compensation when the third party is selected by company representatives? Select at an expensive fee set by the third-party advisory firm. Save the money for dividends and let a court tell you if your compensation is excessive. No shareholder group is going to sue the company under a claim of excessive compensation unless the outcome is clearly going to be against the company.
Thank you for that question. As required by SEC rules, we're providing our stockholders with an advisory Say-on-Pay vote on the compensation paid to our named executive officers. Although this vote is advisory, board and Compensation and Human Capital Committee intend to consider the results of the vote, as well as other relevant factors as we continue to develop our executive compensation program. At our 2025 annual meeting of stockholders, a majority of stockholders voted to hold an advisory Say-on-Pay vote annually. The board cons idered the stockholder vote on Say-on-Pay frequency and determined to conduct an advisory Say-on-Pay vote annually. For more information on our compensation approach, please refer to the proxy statement.
At this time, I do not see any additional questions relating to the proposal. The polls are about to close, so if you have not yet voted, please vote. I will allow you 60 seconds to get in your votes, and we will continue. Okay, Chuck.
Thank you, Allie. Time is now 8:11 A.M., and I declare the polls closed. Allie, at t his time, would you please present the preliminary report of the proxy vote?
According to the preliminary report of the vote that was provided to me by the Inspector of Election, all proposals have passed in accordance with the recommendation of the board of directors. Specifically, each of the nine director nominees has been elected, and proposals two and three have been approved. The final vote totals will be included in a Form 8-K that we will file with the SEC wit hin four business days following today's meeting.
The matters for a vote of stockholders are now concluded. In accordance with the procedures noted on the stockholder portal, we will now address any general questions that were received in advance of the meeting. Allie, do we have any such questions?
Thank you, Chuck. There were no pre-submitted questions.
Great.
We have responded to each of the questions received prior to the meeting. This concludes the question-and-answer portion of the meeting.
Great. Thank you, Allie. On behalf of the board of directors, I thank you for attending this annual meeting. The meeting is now adjourned.
The call has now concluded. Thank you for attending. You may now disconnect.