Good day. Welcome to the Biogen 2026 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. I would now like to turn the conference over to Caroline Dorsa. Please go ahead.
Thank you, Michael. Good morning. I am Caroline Dorsa, Chair of the Board of Biogen. I welcome you to Biogen's 2026 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. I am here today with Wendell Taylor, Chief Corporation Counsel, who will act as Secretary of the meeting. Christopher Viehbacher, our President, Chief Executive Officer, and one of our directors. I'm also joined by the other members of our board of directors, as well as members of the executive team of Biogen, including Ginger Gregory, Chief Human Resources Officer, Jane Grogan, Head of Research, Rachid Izzar, Head of Global Product Strategy and Commercialization, Adam Keeney, Head of Corporate Development, Robin Kramer, Chief Financial Officer, Nicole Murphy, Head of Pharmaceutical Operations and Technology, and Priya Singhal, Head of Development.
Mark Barsanti, representative of PricewaterhouseCoopers, our independent auditor, is also participating in the meeting and will be available to answer any questions you may have for PwC. The meeting will consist of the matters submitted to a vote of stockholders as described in our proxy statement. During the meeting, validated stockholders as of April 21st, 2026, the record date for the meeting, who have entered the control number included with their proxy materials will have an opportunity to vote and ask questions. The agenda and rules of conduct for the meeting are posted on the virtual meeting site. Turning to the formal business of today's meeting, I can confirm the following preliminary matters. The company has appointed Jennifer Borden of Borden Consulting Group LLC to act as an independent inspector of elections for all matters requiring a stockholder vote at this meeting.
Ms. Borden is in attendance and has a certified list of stockholders as of April 21st, 2026, the meeting record date. Those stockholders are entitled to vote at this meeting. The holders of proxies solicited by the board of directors for this meeting are Christopher Viehbacher and Robin Kramer. A majority of the shares of common stock entitled to vote at this meeting are present or represented by proxy. Therefore, a quorum is present for purposes of conducting the business of the meeting. We will now turn to the meeting proposals. It is now 9:05 A.M. on June 9th, 2026. I hereby declare the polls open for voting on all matters of business.
If there are any stockholders who have previously submitted a proxy and wish to revoke their proxy or change their vote, or if there are any stockholders who have not yet submitted a proxy and wish to vote, you may submit your vote by clicking the voting link on the virtual meeting site. Stockholders may vote until the polls are closed following the presentation of the proposals. If you have already submitted a proxy and do not wish to change your previously submitted vote, there is no need to vote during the meeting. Additionally, stockholders who have a question about any meeting proposal may submit a question now by clicking the link to ask a question on the virtual meeting site. We will take any questions once all the proposals have been read. The first proposal is the election of directors.
There are 10 director nominees standing for election to serve a one-year term, namely Maria Freire, William Hawkins, Susan Langer, Jesus Mantas, Lloyd Minor, Menelas Pangalos, Monish Patolawala, Eric Pulaski, Stephen Sherwin, and Christopher Viehbacher. The second proposal is the ratification of the audit committee's selection of PricewaterhouseCoopers as our independent registered public accounting firm for the fiscal year ending December 31st, 2026. The third proposal is an advisory vote on executive compensation. The board recommendations are as follows. Our board recommends a vote for the election of each director nominee, for the ratification of PwC as the company's registered public accounting firm, and for the advisory vote on executive compensation. There are no other formal matters that have been properly brought before this meeting for a vote of stockholders. We will now take questions from stockholders relating to the meeting proposals.
Mr. Taylor, are there any questions from stockholders relating to the meeting proposals?
Ms. Chair, there are no questions from stockholders regarding the matters brought before this meeting.
Thank you, Mr. Taylor. We will now pause for a brief moment for those of you voting online to finish voting. Now that everyone has had the opportunity to ask questions and vote on the meeting proposals, I hereby declare the polls for the meeting closed at 9:08 A.M. I would like to remind everyone that most of the votes on the matters to be acted upon at this meeting have been cast by proxy, which will be tabulated by the Inspector of Election. A preliminary tabulation of the votes indicates that on proposal one, our 10 director nominees have been elected to our board of directors to serve a one-year term.
On proposal two, PricewaterhouseCoopers has been ratified as our independent registered public accounting firm. On proposal three, a majority of stockholders have voted in favor of the advisory vote on our executive compensation. We will file the final voting results with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Form 8-K within four business days. This concludes the business of today's meeting, and the meeting is now adjourned. If I may add, I am so pleased with the continued stockholder support by your votes for all directors. Our goal is to continue to pursue our path toward long-term sustainable growth. We believe that Chris and the executive team are well-positioned to drive that progress as we aim to strengthen and diversify our portfolio. My service as a director and chair of the board will conclude at the end of this meeting.
I extend my sincere thanks to our stockholders for their confidence over the past 16 years and to my fellow directors, past and present, with whom it has been a great privilege to serve. Our board's breadth of experience across life sciences and global innovation strengthens our oversight. We are better able to deliver long-term value for our stockholders because our board recognizes the benefit of experience as well as new ideas. I have strong conviction that the board, under the leadership of Dr. Maria Freire as our incoming chair, together with the management team led by Chris Viehbacher, is well-positioned to guide Biogen through its next chapter of growth. Thank you.
The meeting has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.