Hello, and welcome to the annual meeting of stockholders of Huntington Ingalls Industries. Please note that today's meeting is being recorded. During the meeting, we'll have two question-and-answer sessions. You can submit questions or comments at any time by clicking on the message icon. It is now my pleasure to turn today's meeting over to Admiral Kirk Donald, Chairman, Huntington Ingalls Industries. Admiral Donald, the floor is yours.
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the annual meeting of the stockholders of Huntington Ingalls Industries being held in a virtual meeting format. I'm Kirk Donald, chairman of the board of directors. First, I would like to recognize Chris Kastner, president and chief executive officer of the company, and the other members of our board of directors who are also participating in this meeting virtually. Mr. Philip Bilden, chairman of our Cybersecurity Committee, General Leon Collins, Ms. Victoria Harker, the chairwoman of our Compensation Committee, Mr. Frank Jimenez, Ms. Stacia Kelly, Ms. Tracy McKibbin, Ms. Stephanie O'Sullivan, Mr. Mike Petters, Mr. Tom Schievelbein, the chairman of our Finance Committee, Mr. John Welch, the chairman of our Governance and Policy Committee, and Mr. Steve Wilson, the chairman of our Audit Committee. The 13 nominees for election to the board of directors at today's meeting are the aforementioned directors and myself.
Now, I would like to invite Mr. Kastner to recognize his executive management team.
Thank you, Kirk. I would like to recognize the members of our executive management team and other elected officers, all of whom are participating in this annual meeting virtually. Tom Stiehle, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Bharat Amin, Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer. Chad Boudreaux, Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer. Jennifer Boykin, Executive Vice President and President, Newport News Shipbuilding. Andy Green, Executive Vice President and President, Mission Technologies. Paul Harris, Executive Vice President and Chief Sustainability and Compliance Officer. Brooke Hart, Executive Vice President, Communications. Stewart Holmes, Executive Vice President, Government and Customer Relations. Edmond Hughes, Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer. Nicolas Schuck, Corporate Vice President, Controller and Chief Accounting Officer. Kari Wilkinson, Executive Vice President and President, Ingalls Shipbuilding. Rick Wyatt, Corporate Vice President and Treasurer. Chuck Monroe, Corporate Vice President, Associate General Counsel and Secretary.
I will now turn the meeting back over to our chairman.
Thank you, Chris. I will preside today as the chairman of the meeting, and Chuck Monroe, the corporate secretary, who is also participating in the meeting virtually, will act as the secretary of the meeting. Connie Adams, a representative of the company's transfer agent, Computershare Trust Company, has been appointed as inspector of elections, has taken the oath of office and is participating in the meeting virtually. We also have representatives of the company's independent auditors, Deloitte & Touche LLP, participating in this meeting virtually. They will be available during the question-and-answer periods to respond to the appropriate questions from stockholders. Our board of directors fixed March ninth, 2022 as the record date for determining the stockholders of record who were entitled to receive notice of and who may vote at this meeting. This meeting is for the company's stockholders and guests.
The order of business and rules of conduct for this meeting were made available on the virtual website. The meeting will follow the order of business, and we will vote on the proposals presented to stockholders as described in our proxy statement. I ask that each of you abide by the order of business and the rules of conduct to facilitate an orderly meeting and completion of business items on today's agenda. We'll have two question-and-answer periods, one for the proposals on which stockholders are voting at this meeting, and a second for general matters related to HII. Questions must be submitted through the virtual meeting website, where you can type your question into a text box. The question submission feature at the website was open for submission of questions prior to the meeting and is currently open for questions to be submitted.
If you wish to submit a question, you may submit it now on the virtual meeting website. I hereby call the 2022 annual meeting of stockholders of Huntington Ingalls Industries to order. I will first call on Mr. Monroe as the secretary of the meeting to give the secretary's report.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. A list of the stockholders of record who are entitled to vote at this meeting has been prepared in accordance with applicable corporate law and has been made available for inspection by stockholders during the course of this meeting on the virtual meeting website. As secretary, I have delivered a certificate of mailing verifying that either a notice of internet availability of proxy materials or a notice of 2022 annual meeting of stockholders and a proxy statement, along with a proxy card and a 2021 annual report to stockholders, were mailed to each stockholder of record as of the record date. The total number of shares outstanding and entitled to vote at the close of business on the March 9, 2022 record date, was 40,067,000 shares of common stock, with each share having one vote.
The inspector of elections has informed me that at least 90% of the shares entitled to vote are represented at this meeting by proxy. Holders of a majority of the shares entitled to vote at this meeting are represented. I can therefore report we have a quorum and that the meeting is duly and regularly constituted. It is May third, 2022 at 11:06 A.M., and the voting polls are currently open. If there is any stockholder participating in this virtual meeting who has not already voted and would like to vote or who has already voted and would like to change their vote, please submit your vote now on the virtual meeting website. I will now turn the meeting back over to our chairman.
All stockholders participating in this virtual meeting have been able to cast their vote since they entered the meeting website. We will now proceed with the final opportunity to vote on the five items of business described in the proxy statement. After we review the items of business and while taking votes, there will be a question and answer period for the five matters under consideration. If you have not already done so, please submit your question on the virtual meeting website, and we will respond to the questions during the question and answer period. After the voting and any questions, we will receive the report of the secretary on the voting results. After which, the official portion of the meeting will be concluded. The items of business before this meeting for a vote by stockholders are described in detail in our proxy.
They are, first, the election of 13 directors to hold office until the 2023 annual meeting or until their successors are elected and qualified. The nominees are Philip Bilden, Leon Collins, Victoria Harker, Frank Jimenez, Chris Kastner, Stacia Kelly, Tracy McKibbin, Stephanie O'Sullivan, Mike Petters, Tom Schievelbein, John Welch, Steve Wilson, and myself. Second, the approval of the company's 2021 executive compensation on an advisory basis. Third, the ratification of the appointment of Deloitte & Touche LLP as the company's independent auditors for 2022. Four, approval of the Huntington Ingalls Industries 2022 Long-Term Incentive Stock Plan. Fifth, the stockholder proposal to reduce the threshold at which stockholders can require a special meeting of stockholders. With respect to the fifth item of business, we have been notified that Mr. John Chevedden will present the stockholder proposal on behalf of the stockholder who submitted that proposal. Mr.
Chevedden, you may present the proposal. As described under the rules of conduct for the meeting, you have been allotted three minutes to make a statement in support of the proposal, and you may use this time only to address the proposal. You do not need to read the text of the proposal. Operator, please unmute the cell phone line for Mr. Chevedden.
Hello, this is John Chevedden. Can you hear me okay?
Yes, sir.
Yes, sir.
Proposal five, special shareholder meeting improvement. Unfortunately, this meeting excludes shareholders that own stock through their brokers. A very unfortunate exclusion. I'll go on with the proposal. Shareholders ask our board to take the steps necessary to amend the governing documents that give the owners of a combined 10% of outstanding common stock the power to call special shareholder meetings. It currently takes a theoretical 20% of shares to call a special shareholder meeting. This theoretical 20% of shares translates into 25% of shares that normally vote at the annual meeting. It would be hopeless to expect that the shares that didn't have the time to vote wouldn't have the time to take the special procedural steps to call for a special shareholder meeting.
Most Huntington Ingalls shareholders do not have a related right for shareholders to act by written consent. Many companies provide for both a shareholder right to call a special meeting and for shareholder right to act by written consent. Target and Southwest Airlines are examples of companies that do not provide for shareholder written consent and yet provide for 10% of shares to call for a special shareholder meeting. Huntington Ingalls shareholders gave 43% support to a written consent proposal at the 2020 annual meeting. This 43% support likely equals 51% support from the shares that have access to independent proxy voting advice. Huntington Ingalls should support the voice of a majority of the shares that have access to independent proxy voting advice. A more reasonable right to call a special shareholder meeting might make for more of incentive for Ms.
Victoria Harker, Chair of the Huntington Ingalls Compensation Committee, to perform better. Ms. Harker, by far, received the highest negative votes at the 2021 Huntington Ingalls annual meeting. 26% negative when 5% negative is the norm. A reasonable shareholder right to call for a special shareholder meeting can make management engagement with shareholders more meaningful. If management tends to be insincere in its shareholder engagement, a right for shareholders to call for a special meeting can make management think twice about insincerity. A reasonable right for shareholders to call for a special shareholder meeting will help ensure that management engages with shareholders in good faith because shareholders will have a viable plan B as an alternative. The management statement next to this proposal is pointless.
It fails to give one example of a company that has the 10% stock ownership threshold called for in this proposal being the subject of a special shareholder meeting with a less than good outcome. This is almost zero risk in adopting a 10% stock ownership threshold based on the lack of factual data from our directors. Please vote yes. This will surely meeting improvement proposal five.
Thank you. Operator, please mute the participant telephone line. We will now finalize the voting. Proxies solicited on behalf of the board of directors and signed by stockholders entitled to vote at this meeting have been deposited with the Secretary. The shares owned by these stockholders have been voted and represented at this meeting through the proxies held by our Corporate Secretary, Chuck Monroe. These votes have been tallied by the Inspector of Elections. If any stockholder participating in this meeting virtually has a vote they wish to cast, please submit your vote now on the virtual website. Seeing there are no questions, we will complete the voting process. The time is 11:13 A.M. I declare the voting polls are now closed. Any votes that were submitted at this meeting will be included in the final tally once the Inspector of Elections has an opportunity to verify the shares.
I will now ask the Secretary of the meeting, Mr. Monroe, to provide a preliminary report on the results of the voting.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will now report the results of voting on the five items of business. Please note that the vote count announced at this meeting is preliminary, and the final vote count, including the tabulation of any votes that are cast today, will be reported on a Form 8-K we file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Based on the preliminary report of the Inspector of Elections, each of the 13 nominees for director has received more than 91% of the number of shares voted and has been duly elected to serve until the 2023 annual meeting. Approval of the company's 2021 executive compensation on an advisory basis has received 96% of the total number of shares voted and has been approved on an advisory basis.
Ratification of the appointment of Deloitte & Touche as the company's independent auditors for 2022 has been approved by 98% of the total number of shares voted and has been duly ratified. Approval of the Huntington Ingalls Industries 2022 Long-Term Incentive Stock Plan has been approved by 94% of the total number of shares voted and has been duly approved. In respect of the stockholder proposal to reduce the threshold at which stockholders can require a special meeting of stockholders, 58% of the total number of shares voted were cast against the proposal, and 41% of the shares voted were cast for the proposal. The stockholder proposal has therefore not been approved.
Thank you, Chuck. This concludes the official portion of the annual meeting. Our stockholders have received copies of our 2021 annual report to stockholders and our proxy statement for this meeting, or has had access to these documents through the Internet, both of which were filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and made available through the company's website. We will not be making a formal presentation about the company, but we will address questions submitted by stockholders through the virtual meeting website. We have one question. I'll turn it over to Chris Kastner to answer that question.
Mr. Chairman, the question is: Is the current Ukraine situation affecting the company?
Yeah. Thank you for your question and your interest in the company. No. Not at this time. No impact related to Ukraine. We are monitoring the situation and have had discussions with our customers and the Pentagon about our products and services and if they could support, but no impact at this time.
Thank you, Chris. There being no further business to come before this meeting, I hereby declare the meeting adjourned. We thank all of you for participating in this virtual meeting, and we appreciate your interest and support of HII. This concludes the meeting. You may now disconnect.