Will the meeting please come to order? I am Dr. Joshua Hare, Chair of the Board of Longeveron Incorporated. I will be presiding at this meeting. Along with my fellow directors and executive officers of the company, I would like to welcome you to our third annual meeting of shareholders, which is being held virtually as we aim to establish robust participation. We appreciate your attendance, your interest, and most importantly, your support of Longeveron. This annual meeting of the stockholders is held pursuant to the bylaws of the company and written notice to all stockholders. Stockholders may submit questions at any time during this meeting in the space provided on the virtual meeting screen. Questions submitted by stockholders should pertain to the proposals being considered at this time. Questions that are properly submitted using the chat function will be gathered and posted with the responses on the company's website.
After introducing our executive officers in attendance and dealing with a few procedural matters, we will take up the items to be acted upon.
We would like to introduce the Longeveron executives who are in attendance: Wa'el Hashad, our Chief Executive Officer, Lisa A. Locklear, our Chief Financial Officer, and myself, Paul Lehr, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary. Also attending this meeting are representatives from Marcum LLP, our independent auditors. Although Marcum has indicated that it does not wish to make a statement, representatives are available to respond to appropriate questions submitted during the meeting.
The Board of Directors has appointed Colonial Stock Transfer to serve as the independent inspector of the election for this meeting. I request that they file their oath of office with the Secretary of the meeting for inclusion in the minutes of this meeting. Will the Secretary please provide a report on the proof of notice of meeting?
I have an affidavit of mailing from Colonial Stock Transfer certifying as to the giving of notice of this meeting and the sending to stockholders of record as of May 16, 2024, the Notice of Internet Availability of Proxy Materials, all of which Colonial commenced distributing to stockholders on May 20, 2024. I also have a copy of the 2023 annual report on Form 10-K, which includes financial statements certified by Marcum. A copy of this annual report was sent or made available to each stockholder entitled to vote at this meeting, and an electronic copy of the annual report is available on the website used to access this meeting. The notice of meeting and the affidavit of mailing, together with the attachments thereto, and the 2023 annual report will be filed with the minutes of this meeting.
The Secretary has the list of the holders of record of Class A Common Stock and Class B Common Stock of the company at the close of business on May 16, 2024. This list of stockholders has been open for examination at the company for any purpose relevant to this meeting during ordinary business hours for the past 10 days in accordance with Delaware law. This list is available for inspection during this meeting by any stockholder on the website used to access this meeting. The Secretary will please file a copy of the list of stockholders with the records of the company. Mr. Lehr, will you please present your report of attendance at this meeting so that we can determine whether a quorum is present?
Mr. Chairman, on May 16, 2024, the record date for this annual meeting, there were outstanding and entitled to vote 4,864,619 shares of Class A Common Stock representing the same number of votes, and 1,484,005 shares of Class B Common Stock representing 7,420,025 votes were issued and outstanding. I've been informed by the Inspector of Election that shares of stock representing greater than 6,142,323 votes are represented by proxy and entitled to vote at this annual meeting. The shares so represented exceed 50% of the total votes entitled to vote at this meeting and thus constitute a quorum.
Thank you, Mr. Lehr. On the basis of the report of the Secretary and the Inspector of Election, I find that proper notice has been given and that a quorum is present. Accordingly, this meeting has been properly convened. The next order of business is a description of the matters to be acted upon at today's meeting. Mr. Lehr, will you please proceed?
The first proposal to come before the meeting is the election of directors. At this meeting, we will be electing four Class III directors for three-year terms expiring at the 2027 annual meeting of stockholders. The nominees are Dr. Joshua Hare, Ursula Ungaro, Dr. Roger Hajjar, and Neha Motwani. Information concerning the nominees' principal occupations, skills, and qualifications, and other matters which may be of interest are contained in the proxy statement. Mr. Chairman, were any other nominations received?
Mr. Lehr, 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 to be closed.
Thank you, Dr. Hare. The second matter to come before the meeting is a resolution for approval of an amendment to the company's Amended and Restated 2021 Incentive Award Plan to increase the number of shares available for issuance under the 2021 plan. The last matter to come before the meeting is the ratification of the appointment of Marcum LLP as the company's independent registered public accounting firm. The Board of Directors recommends the ratification of the appointment of Marcum to serve as the company's independent registered public accounting firm and to audit the company's financial statements for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2024. Are there any questions or comments with respect to any of the three proposals? Seeing none, Mr. Chairman, will you please proceed with the opening of the polls for voting?
It is presently 1:10 P.M. on July 2, 2024, and the polls for voting on all matters are open. All Longeveron stockholders entitled to vote in this meeting have the ability to do so online. If you are a stockholder entitled to vote and have not yet voted, or if you want to change your previously cast vote, please do so by clicking on the Longeveron button located on the website used to access this meeting. Please remember that if you have already voted by proxy, it is not necessary to vote again. After voting has been completed on all matters on the agenda, we will close the polls and provide a preliminary report. The polls are about to close, so if you have not yet voted, please do so. Since everybody has had the opportunity to vote, it is now 1:11 P.M., and the polls are closed.
The Inspector of Election has delivered their preliminary report, and I will now announce the preliminary results. Based on the Inspector of Election's preliminary report, each of the four nominees for director received a sufficient number of the votes cast in favor of his or her election and has been elected as a director of the company to serve for a three-year term that will expire at the 2027 annual meeting of stockholders. The amendment to the company's amended and restated 2021 Incentive Award Plan has been approved by more than the majority of the votes cast in favor of the proposal, and the ratification of the appointment of Marcum LLP as the company's independent registered public accounting firm received more than the majority of the votes cast in favor of the proposal, and the appointment has been ratified.
We will file the final report of the Inspector of Election with the records of this meeting. We expect to report the results of the voting on a Form 8-K to be filed with the SEC within four business days of this meeting. That concludes the business for the meeting. The meeting is now adjourned. Any questions that have been properly submitted regarding the company and its business will be posted promptly on the company's website for review. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for attending today's meeting.