Good morning. I'm Gerald Colella, the Chair of the board of directors of Columbus McKinnon Corporation. It's 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 Chair for 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 the rules for the conduct and procedures for 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 that you 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 four 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 need to recast your vote today if you've already voted. However, if you'd like to vote, you may do so at any time up 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 26th, 2026, 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 22nd, 2026, 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 have 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. Chair, the total number of shares outstanding and entitled to vote at this meeting is 28,832,399. 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 having been given and a quorum being present, we will proceed with the transaction of the business of the meeting. There are four business items to be acted upon at the meeting this morning. The first item of business is the election of 12 directors, each to serve a one-year term expiring at the 2027 annual meeting of shareholders. The company's corporate governance and nomination committee has nominated, and the board of directors has approved, the following as directors to hold office until the 2027 annual meeting, until their successor has been elected and qualified. Chad R. Abraham, Aziz S. Aghili, Jeanne Beliveau-Dunn, Andrew Campelli, Gerald G. Colella, Michael Dastoor, Michael Lamach, Kathryn V. Roedel, Nathan K. Sleeper, Chris J. Stevens Jr., David J. Wilson, Rebecca Yeung. No other nominations were received prior to the deadline established in the company's bylaws.
Therefore, no additional nominations may be made at this meeting, and I declare the nominations closed. We will now move on to the next agenda item. The second item before this 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, 2027. The fourth item of business is to approve an amendment to the Columbus McKinnon Corporation Second Amended and Restated 2016 Long-Term Incentive Plan to increase the number of authorized shares available for issuance under the Second Amended and Restated 2016 Long-Term Incentive Plan. That concludes the introduction of the business items to be considered at this meeting. The polls will close shortly.
If you're 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 four 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 9:06 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, and four 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 conference is now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.