Hello, and welcome to the 2020 Harley-Davidson Annual Shareholders Meeting. Please note that if you are logged in as a shareholder, you can vote your shares by clicking on the "Cast Your Vote" link in the meeting center. The polls will remain open until the items of business have been introduced. It is now my pleasure to turn today's meeting over to Shannon Burns, Director of Investor Relations at Harley-Davidson. Mr. Burns, the floor is yours.
Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to the 2020 Harley-Davidson Annual Shareholders Meeting. We are hosting this meeting virtually as the health and well-being of our stakeholders is our top priority. Today, our Chairman, President, and CEO, Jochen Zeitz, will be providing a business update. Next, our Chief Legal Officer, Paul Krause, will assist Jochen in conducting our official items of business. Lastly, we'll take your questions. Please note, we are only fielding questions specific to the items of business at this meeting, as we are taking a simplified and focused approach to this meeting given these challenging times. You can submit questions at any time by clicking on the message icon. Our comments will include forward-looking statements that are subject to risks that could cause actual results to be materially different. These risks include, among others, matters noted in our latest earnings release and filings with the SEC.
Harley-Davidson disclaims any obligation to update information from this meeting. Please note that this meeting is being recorded, and a link to the recording will be available on our website. With that, I'll hand it over to Jochen.
Thanks, Shannon. To begin, I'd like to recognize our Board of Directors who are attending this meeting virtually for the first time in our history. Our directors are invaluable stewards of our company's incredible legacy, and I sincerely thank them for the passion, dedication, and leadership they bring to the Harley-Davidson boardroom. Next, I want to recognize the historic time we're in and acknowledge the incredible spirit I've witnessed in the face of adversity. Harley-Davidson is deeply rooted in community, and we honor those who are on the front lines, providing care and are working tirelessly to end this terrible pandemic. While COVID-19 has dramatically changed our reality, we have a robust plan in place to protect our customers and employees and to be prudent with our resources.
First and foremost, we continue to act quickly and in alignment with government efforts to protect the well-being of employees and members of the Harley-Davidson family. We also continue to support the wider community in a number of ways and remain committed to doing our part. Second, we've taken actions to preserve about $250 million in cash in 2020 by reducing capital and non-essential spending. We've also suspended discretionary share repurchases and reduced our Q2 cash dividend to $0.02 per share, down from $0.38 per share in Q1. We believe these are prudent actions given the uncertainty of the COVID-19 crisis. Third, we maintain a strong liquidity position with nearly $2.5 billion in liquidity at the end of the first quarter of this year. On April 28, we disclosed that we further bolstered our liquidity position to prepare us for the challenges ahead.
Finally, we took important steps to help ease the burden on dealers and riders in response to the COVID-19 crisis. While these actions offer near-term relief to dealers, we do expect the network to contract through the crisis. We will work to optimize the network and improve dealer profitability going forward. For riders who are impacted by COVID-19, Harley-Davidson Financial Services is helping to keep them on the road. Also, beyond our COVID-19 response, we must take significant actions now to rewire the company in terms of priorities, execution, operating model, and strategy to drive sustainable and profitable long-term growth. We are referring to these actions as The Rewire , and it's our playbook for the next months, leading to a new five-year strategic plan, which we will share when greater visibility to the future returns.
As we execute The Rewire playbook, we are first working to enhance our core strength and better balance expansion into new spaces. It's more important than ever to return focus on the strength of our brand and company. Second, we'll prioritize the markets that matter, investing in the places, products, and customers that offer the most profit and potential. This includes building on our core and strong position in the US. We will also simplify the market coverage model and take significant costs out of the process. Third, we'll reset our product launches and line up for simplicity and maximum impact. We will be guided by the voice of our customers and dealers as we bring new focus to our offerings to optimize value and profit delivery.
Next, we'll build our parts and accessories and general merchandise businesses to full potential with a comprehensive strategy that focuses on assortment and distribution opportunities, maximizes channels, improves e-commerce capabilities, and is designed to grow revenue and margin for both accompanying dealers. We will align this strategy with our motorcycle strategy for a holistic presentation to the market. Finally, we're working to adjust and align organization structure, cost structure, and operating model to set the organization up for stability and success. We are designing an organization that is more focused and nimble with an appropriate cost structure adjusted to the new realities of the market. Our refreshed organization will be less complex, with sharper focus and the ability to make faster decisions. With the rewire, we are addressing our realities with conviction, and I believe we will come out of this stronger than ever.
We are united as a Harley-Davidson global community to face these challenges ahead. This is the time to make our company better and provide for our Harley-Davidson family during a new reality. I believe that riding a Harley-Davidson bike in the great outdoors, connecting with nature and ourselves, will be needed more than ever as we emerge from this crisis. Together, we will reignite the Harley-Davidson soul. The Harley-Davidson 2020 Annual Shareholders Meeting is officially called to order, and I'll ask our Chief Legal Officer, Paul Krause, to help us through the business portion of the meeting. Paul is also serving as Secretary for this meeting. Paul.
Thanks, Jochen. March 12, 2020, is the record date for determining shareholders entitled to notice of and to vote at this meeting. Shareholders, as of the record date, should have received by mail or electronically a notice of the 2020 Annual Meeting, which also served as notice of the availability of proxy materials. All proxies received by the company prior to the meeting have been delivered to the election judge. A copy of the affidavit of mailing and the tabulation of shareholders present in person on a virtual basis or by proxy will be available for inspection after the meeting. I've been advised that the quorum is represented at this meeting, so we are ready to conduct the formal business of the meeting. Susan Hogan, a representative of Computershare, will act as the inspector of the election.
Matters to be voted on at this meeting are listed in our proxy statement. The company has received no timely request to place additional items of business on the agenda. For a request to have been included on the agenda today, the company must have received the request no later than January 28 of this year, as required by our articles of incorporation. Information regarding next year's meeting requirements is included in this year's proxy. Any shareholder who has not yet voted or wishes to change their vote may do so now by clicking the voting button on the web portal and following the instructions. No further action is necessary for shareholders who have sent in proxies or already voted via the internet or by telephone. The first item of business to be acted upon at this meeting is the election of nine directors to the company's board.
Details about our directors' backgrounds and qualifications can be found in the proxy statement. Nominees are Chairman, President and CEO Jochen Zeitz, Presiding Director Thomas Linebarger, and Directors Troy Alstead, John Anderson, Michael Cave, Allan Golston, Sara Levinson, Brian Niccol, and Maryrose Sylvester. The second item of business is the approval by advisory vote of the compensation of our named executive officers. The third item of business is to approve an amendment to our restated articles of incorporation to allow us to implement proxy access beginning next year. The fourth item of business is the approval of the 2020 Incentive Stock Plan for Harley-Davidson. The fifth item of business is the ratification of Ernst & Young, LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, to serve as the company's auditor for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2020. A representative of Ernst & Young is in attendance.
At this time, we'll pause to ensure all votes are in. The polls are now closed for voting at the 2020 Annual Meeting. We will complete the formal portion of the meeting. Our Inspector of Election completed the vote count on a preliminary basis and have been informed that the votes cast were sufficient to approve the election of all the director nominees. Congratulations to all of the directors. Regarding Proposal 2, the votes cast were sufficient to approve by advisory vote the compensation of our named executive officers. Item 3 was approved, amending our articles of incorporation to allow us to implement proxy access. For Item 4, Harley-Davidson's 2020 Incentive Stock Plan has been approved. Regarding Item 5, shareholders also voted to ratify the selection of Ernst & Young, LLP, as the company's independent auditors for 2020.
At this time, we now officially adjourn the 2020 Harley-Davidson Annual Meeting of shareholders. Now, we'll open it up for questions. As Shannon mentioned earlier, we are only fielding questions specific to the items of business at this meeting. You can submit questions by clicking on the message icon. Please note, we will answer as many appropriate questions as time permits.
Thank you. Joining Jochen for Q&A will be our CFO, John Olin. The first question is on executive compensation. Investor support for the executive compensation program has been a bit lower the last couple of years. What are you doing to address that?
Thanks, Shannon. This is John. This question is referring to the advisory vote for compensation of our named executive officers. Over the last couple of years, approximately 70% of our shareholders have voted in favor of our compensation practices, a percentage that we would like to see higher in the future. To that end, we have been very active in soliciting our shareholders' feedback. We conduct outreach conversations each spring and fall with our shareholders. Most recently, this spring, we spoke with shareholders representing approximately 50% of our shares. Moving forward, we will continue to assess and refine our executive compensation programs using our shareholders' feedback as a key input.
All right. Thank you. The next question. Since 2008, there has been a downward spiral of sales. Why are most of the board members still on the board during this time? Major shakeup needs to take place and get some new and real motorcycle people on the board.
I will take the Jochen here. First of all, we have continued to renew our board membership over the last few years and have brought in new board members over time. There has been quite a significant change in our board membership. That being said, we also expect to elect one new board member in this year. I feel very confident that the board we have is giving us all the knowledge we need to take the company through this important rewire phase and the future.
Thank you. There are no more questions at this time related to the items of business at this meeting, so I'll hand it back to Jochen for final comments.
Thanks, Shannon. On behalf of everyone at Harley-Davidson, thank you for being part of our legacy, our iconic history, and our future. Thank you for your investment and continuing to ride with us. Goodbye.
This concludes the meeting. You may now disconnect.