Good morning. I'm Gerald Colella, the Chair of the Board of Directors of Columbus McKinnon Corporation. It is my pleasure, on behalf of the Board of Directors and the Management of the company, to welcome you to the virtual annual meeting of shareholders of Columbus McKinnon Corporation, which I will now call to order. I will act as the Chief of the Meeting, and Alan Korman, the Company's Senior Vice President, General Counsel, Corporate Development, and Secretary, will serve as the Secretary of the Meeting. The agenda and rules for the conduct and procedures of the annual meeting of shareholders are posted on the virtual meeting website. I plan to conduct the meeting in accordance with the agenda and ask you to abide by the rules for conduct of the annual meeting of shareholders.
Only shareholders that have registered for the meeting with a control number and have provided their name may post questions to the website that are relevant to the seven items of business to be voted on today. These questions, if any, will be addressed at the appropriate time in accordance with the order of business set forth in the agenda and the rules of conduct. The polls are open. Let me note that you do not have to recast your vote today if you have already voted. However, if you would like to vote, you may do so at any time until we close the polls. Mr. Korman has provided the notice of the meeting, the proxy statement, and the company's annual report, together with a sworn statement of their mailing on June 30, 2025, to our shareholders. These documents will be incorporated into the minutes of this meeting.
In addition, the list of shareholders as of the record date, June 16, 2025, is available on the virtual meeting website and will be incorporated into the minutes of this meeting. Mary O'Connor and Mark Paradowski have been appointed as inspectors of the election for this meeting. Each has executed their oath of office in writing, which has been delivered to the Secretary and will be filed with the minutes of the meeting. Mr. Secretary, will you please report on whether a quorum is present?
Mr. Chairman, the total number of shares outstanding and entitled to vote at this meeting is 28,688,208. Based on preliminary reports and subject to a final confirmation by the inspectors of election, I find a quorum is present.
Proper notice of the meeting has been given and a quorum is present. We will proceed with the transaction of the business of the meeting. There are seven business items to be acted upon at the meeting this morning. The first item of business is the election of nine directors, each to serve a one-year term expiring at the 2026 annual meeting of the shareholders. The company's Corporate Governance and Nomination Committee has nominated, and the Board of Directors has approved, the following guest directors to hold office until the 2026 annual meeting and until their successor has been elected and qualified: Gerald G. Colella, Kathryn V. Bohl , David J. Wilson, Aziz F. Aghili, Jeanne Beliveau-Dunn , Michael D. Defeo, Chad R. Abraham, Rebecca Young, and Chris J. Stephens, Jr. No other nominations were received prior to the deadline established in the company's bylaws.
Therefore, no additional nominations may be made for this meeting. I declare the nominations closed. We will now move on to the next agenda item. The second item before the meeting is to conduct a shareholder advisory vote on the compensation of our named executive officers. The third item of business is the ratification of the appointment of Ernst & Young LLP as Columbus McKinnon's independent registered public accounting firm for the fiscal year ending March 31st, 2026. The fourth item of business is to approve the elimination of restrictions on the issuance of shares of common stock in connection with the conversion of the preferred shares as defined in the proxy statement related to this meeting and on the voting of preferred shares for the purpose of complying with NASDAQ listing rule 5635.
The fifth item of business is to amend the company's restated certificate of incorporation to increase the number of authorized shares of common stock. The sixth item of business is to amend the company's restated certificate of incorporation to permit exercise of preemptive rights of CDI investors as defined in the proxy statement related to this meeting. Finally, the seventh item of business is to approve a proposal to adjourn the annual meeting to a later date or dates if necessary to permit further solicitation of proxies in the event there are not sufficient votes at the time of the annual meeting to adopt proposal four, five, or six. That concludes the introduction of the business items to be considered at this meeting. The polls will close shortly.
If you are a shareholder of record or a proxy holder for such shareholder and wish to vote at this meeting, please do so now using the ballot available on the virtual meeting portal. Likewise, if any shareholders have questions relevant to the seven items of business to be voted upon at this meeting, please enter them now via the virtual meeting portal. Mr. Korman, are there any questions submitted through the portal that are relevant to the business proposed at this meeting?
Mr. Chair, there are no questions to read at this time.
It is now 8:07 A.M. The polls for voting on all matters before this meeting are hereby closed. Mr. Secretary, will you please announce the preliminary outcome of the voting?
Mr. Chair, we will not be able to announce final voting results at today's meeting and will provide those publicly following certification by the inspectors of election. However, based on a preliminary tally, each of the company's nominees for election to the Board of Directors received a majority of all votes eligible to be cast at this meeting in person or by proxy. Additionally, based on our preliminary tally, we believe proposals two, three, four, five, six, and seven were approved by shareholders.
Thank you, Mr. Secretary. At this time, all scheduled matters have been completed, and I'm aware of no other business that is properly before this meeting. The meeting is now adjourned. Thank you for joining us today.
The meeting has now concluded. Thank you for joining. You may now disconnect.