Hello and welcome to the C. H. Robinson Worldwide Incorporated 2021 Annual Meeting of Shareholders. I would like to hand things off to Chris Gerst, Assistant General Counsel and Assistant Secretary of C. H. Robinson Worldwide. Chris?
Thank you, and good afternoon and welcome to the C. H. Robinson Worldwide Inc. 2021 Annual Meeting of Shareholders. My name is Chris Gerst, and I am the Assistant General Counsel and Assistant Secretary of C. H. Robinson Worldwide Inc. We are hosting our 2021 Annual Meeting of Shareholders in a virtual format, which we believe allows C. H. Robinson to be more inclusive and to safely and thoughtfully reach out to and communicate with a greater number of our shareholders.
We are joined at today's annual meeting by shareholders attending via the Internet, a link to which has been provided to our shareholders in our proxy statement and our other shareholder materials. We will conduct the formal business portion of our annual meeting first and answer shareholders' questions following that discussion.
If you have logged into the annual meeting with your control number, you may ask a question at any time by typing your question into the box at the bottom of the webpage. I would like to begin by introducing our Chief Executive Officer and our Board of Directors, all of whom are also attending our annual meeting. Our President and Chief Executive Officer is Bob Biesterfeld.
The members of our Board of Directors are Scott Anderson, Bob Biesterfeld, Kermit Crawford, Wayne Fortun , Timothy Goke, Mary Guilfoile , Jodee Kozlak , Brian Short, Jim Stake, and Paula Tolliver
Angie Freeman, Chief Human Resources and ESG Officer, Chris O'Brien, Chief Commercial Officer, Mac Pinkerton, President, North American Surface Transportation, Mike Short, President, Global Freight Forwarding, and Mike Zechmeister, Chief Financial Officer.
Katie Knutson, a representative from Deloitte & Touche, LLP, our independent registered public accounting firm for the fiscal year 2020, is also attending our annual meeting. Chris Sundberg , a representative from the Carideo Group, is also in attendance today and is acting as our Inspector of Elections.
At this time, I would like to call the C. H. Robinson Worldwide Inc. 2021 Annual Meeting of Shareholders to order. On or before March 26, 2021, a notice of this meeting and a notice regarding the availability of proxy materials via the Internet were properly given to all shareholders of record as of March 10, 2021.
Before we review the matters presented to our shareholders and announce the results of the election, please note that any shareholder who hasn't yet voted or who wishes to change their vote may do so by clicking on the voting button on the webpage and following the instructions stated there.
Shareholders who have sent in proxies or voted via telephone or Internet and who do not wish to change their vote do not need to take any further action. Ms. Sundberg will ensure that all votes, including any votes submitted at today's annual meeting prior to the polls closing, are included in the final tabulated results. I have been informed that 116,726,824 of the 131,142,265 outstanding shares of the company as of March 10, 2021, are represented here today by proxy.
The shares represented at this meeting constitute 89% of the outstanding shares of the company. As a result, a quorum is present, and this annual meeting of shareholders of C. H. Robinson Worldwide Inc. is officially convened. As set forth in the proxy materials delivered to our shareholders, there are three proposals on which our shareholders are being asked to vote.
The first proposal to be considered at this annual meeting is the election of Scott Anderson, Bob Biesterfeld, Kermit Crawford, Wayne Fortun, Timothy Goke, Mary Guilfoile , Jodee Kozlak , Brian Short, Jim Stake, and Paula Tolliver , the 10 director nominees that have been recommended by our governance committee and nominated by the Board for election in this year's proxy statement.
If elected, each director nominee will serve a one-year term which will expire at the company's annual meeting in 2022 or until their successors are otherwise chosen. The Board of Directors has recommended a vote for the election of each director nominee. The second proposal to be considered at this annual meeting is an advisory vote on the approval of the compensation of the company's named executive officers.
The Board of Directors has recommended a vote for the approval of the compensation of the company's named executive officers. The third proposal to be considered at this annual meeting is the ratification of the selection of Deloitte & Touche as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for the fiscal year 2021. The Board of Directors has recommended a vote for the ratification of the selection of Deloitte & Touche as the company's independent registered public accounting firm.
At this time, any remaining votes must now be cast as the polls will now close. Again, all votes, including any votes submitted at today's annual meeting prior to the polls closing, will be included in the final tabulated results. I am able to report that based on the proxies in hand, each of the 10 director nominees set forth on the directors' slate nominated by the board of directors have been elected.
The advisory vote on the compensation of the company's named executive officers has been approved, and the proposal to ratify the selection of Deloitte & Touche as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for the current fiscal year has also been approved.
The final voting results will be included in the report on Form 8-K that the company will be filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission in the next few days. You will be able to access this Form 8-K through the company's website. Before we begin answering shareholders' questions, please note that the responses to questions asked by shareholders today may contain forward-looking statements, including statements concerning future operating results.
Such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future results and involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from the potential results discussed today.
Such statements are based upon the current beliefs and expectations of management and are subject to significant risks, uncertainties, and other risk factors listed from time to time by C. H. Robinson in its Securities and Exchange Commission filings.
At this point, we are happy to receive questions from our shareholders. If you have logged into the annual meeting with your control number, you may ask a question at this time by typing your question into the box at the bottom of the webpage. We will prioritize questions that relate to the proposals considered at this meeting. If you have general questions about C. H. Robinson, please include your contact information so we can respond directly to you after this call.
We will allow up to 10 minutes to answer shareholders' questions. We will now pause to allow questions to be submitted. At this point, we have received no questions. At any time, shareholders with questions about C. H. Robinson may contact Chuck Ives, C. H. Robinson's Director of Investor Relations at 952-683-2508.
This concludes the C. H. Robinson Worldwide Inc. 2021 Annual Meeting of Shareholders, which is now adjourned. Thank you for your attendance and participation in this year's annual meeting of shareholders. Goodbye, and please stay safe and healthy.
The meeting has now officially come to a close, and you may disconnect your devices.