Hello everyone. My name is Lisa Cornell, Senior Vice President, Chief Legal Officer, and Corporate Secretary for First American Financial Corporation, and I will act as Secretary of this meeting. Please note that this meeting is being recorded and a recording will be made available on our website. However, no one attending via the webcast is permitted to record or capture all or any portion of the meeting. The meeting today will be presided over by our Chairman of the Board, Dennis Gilmore. Also attending today is Fred Kelso, a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers, our independent auditors. Fred is available to respond to appropriate questions during the general question and answer period. Daniel Loeffler, who is with Equiniti Shareholder Services, our stock transfer agent, is the Inspector of Elections for this meeting and is also attending today.
After dealing with a few procedural matters and introducing the directors in attendance, we will make up the items to be acted upon. The polls are currently open and will remain open for approximately the next 5 minutes. If you have not already voted or if you wish to change your vote, you may do so by following the instructions on the virtual annual meeting website. If you previously voted by proxy through the mail, telephone or internet, you do not need to vote today unless you wish to change your vote. The agenda for the meeting and the rules of conduct for the meeting are displayed on the virtual annual meeting website. To conduct an orderly meeting, we ask that participants abide by these rules. As stated in these rules, remarks made during the meeting should be limited to matters on the agenda.
As is our custom, we will answer general questions at the end of the meeting. Please submit any questions in the space provided on the virtual annual meeting website. Questions must abide by the rules of conduct. Thank you for your cooperation. I will now turn the meeting over to our chairman, Dennis Gilmore.
Thank you, Lisa. Good afternoon, and welcome to First American Financial Corporation's annual stockholder meeting. I'm Dennis Gilmore, Chairman of the Board. I now call this meeting to order. The four board members up for election are Ken DeGiorgio, our Chief Executive Officer of First American Financial Corporation since February of 2022. Ken brings 23 years of service to our company, and it brings an in-depth understanding of our company's business, risk profile, and competitive landscape. Next, we have Dr. James Doti, Professor of Economics at Chapman University, a director since 2010. James provides insight to the impact of economic environment on the company. Next, Mike McKee. Mike is Principal of The Contrarian Group and the Chairman of Realty Income Corporation and the Tiger Woods Foundation. Mike's been a director since 2011.
Mike brings to the board significant operating and executive management experience. Last, Marsha Spence serves as the Chairman of the Board for Mother Lode Holding Company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company. She brings to the board deep understanding and experience leading a multi- brand successful agency. Detailed biographies of our board members can be found in our proxy. Thanks to all our board members for your continued service and wise counsel. Our stock transfer agent reported that we have a quorum present for the purpose of transacting business. I now ask our secretary to run through the agenda of the meeting.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. There are five items on the agenda for this meeting. The first is the election of Class I directors. The board of directors has nominated Kenneth D. DeGiorgio, James L. Doti, Michael D. McKee, and Marsha A. Spence to serve as Class I directors for a three-year term expiring on the date of the 2026 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. The board of directors recommends that you vote for each of these Class I director nominees. The second item of business is the approval on an advisory basis of the compensation of the company's named executive officers as disclosed in the proxy materials for this meeting. The board of directors recommends that you vote for the approval on an advisory basis of our company's executive compensation.
The third item of business is the approval on an advisory basis for the frequency of future votes to approve the company's executive compensation. The board of directors recommends that you vote one year on an advisory basis for the frequency of future votes to approve the company's executive compensation. The fourth item of business is the approval of the amendment and restatement of the 2020 Incentive Compensation Plan. The board of directors recommends that you vote for this proposal. The fifth item of business is the ratification of PricewaterhouseCoopers as the company's independent accounting firm for 2023. The board of directors recommends that you vote for this proposal. We have not received any questions or comments relating to items on the agenda, and we will defer any other questions to after the meeting.
The polls have been open since the beginning of the meeting and are about to close. If you have not already voted or if you wish to change your vote, you may do so by following the instructions on the virtual annual meeting website. If you previously voted by proxy through the mail, telephone or internet, you do not need to vote today unless you wish to change your vote. We will wait for a moment to allow for the submission of any final votes. Now that everyone's had the opportunity to vote, the polls are now closed. The Inspector of Elections has provided the preliminary results of the voting. The preliminary vote report shows that the four nominees presented have been elected as Class I directors. The executive's compensation is approved on an advisory basis.
The frequency of future votes to approve the company's executive compensation has been voted on an advisory basis to occur every year. The amendment and restatement of the 2020 Incentive Compensation Plan is approved, and PricewaterhouseCoopers has been ratified as the company's independent accounting firm for 2023. Please submit now any additional questions in the space provided on our virtual annual meetings website. At the conclusion of remarks our Chairman is about to make, we will stop accepting questions and we'll answer those questions that conform to the rules of conduct for the meeting. Since we have finished our official business, the meeting is now adjourned. Mr. Chairman, I now turn the time back to you.
Thank you. Thank you to our investors for your continued support of our company. It's my privilege to serve as First American's Chairman of the Board of Directors. First American navigated a sharp cyclical downturn in the real estate market in 2022. Despite this difficult market, First American delivered a title pre-tax margin of 10% in 2022 and continued to return capital to shareholders. Last year, we returned $658 million to our shareholders through share repurchase and dividends. Challenging market conditions continued into the first quarter of 2023. Though the adverse environment weighed on our results, our continued expense management efforts and growth in our net investment income allowed us to deliver a 6.5% pre-tax margin in our title segment for the first quarter.
Looking forward to the remainder of 2023, the purchase market appears to have stabilized. While there still is a high degree of uncertainty concerning the commercial market outlook, we are optimistic that transaction activity will improve in the second half of the year. I'm excited for First American's future. Current market conditions are challenging, but the company is well-positioned to emerge stronger when the current down cycle ends. Given our financial strength, the company will continue to invest in innovation, strategic initiatives, and growth opportunities while maintaining its exceptional culture, which helped First American earn a recognition as one of the 100 best places to work for by Great Place To Work in Fortune Magazine for the 8th consecutive year. Thank you again for your ongoing support of First American.
Thank you for your remarks, Mr. Chairman. We will now stop accepting questions. Since we have received no questions, we wanna thank you for your participation in our meeting today. We will now conclude the call.